The Oracle of Delphi
by Hern
Summary: Alliance soldier Audrea disappeared from earth in 2025 after a strange discovery. She's rescued from Cerberus by Commander Shepard almost two centuries later, and now has to find a way to deal with the scars of the past and the uncertainty of the future that presents itself cryptically in her dreams. AU-ish, OC. Not a self insert time travel.
1. Escape Across the Styx

_**A/N: Give it a chance. It's not going where you think ;) This is going to be an original story that loosely follows the cannon line. It's a nifty idea I've had stuck in my head for a few months, so I thought I'd share with other ME junkies. Please read and review, I'm an avid reader, and once upon a time was a decent writer, but the years have made me rusty so any input is greatly appreciated.**_

_**This is Audrea's story and follows her, but there's plenty of all the characters you know and love.**_

_**I plan for this to be a full fleshed story with character and plot development *with a few twists*, so don't expect a wham bam thank you ma'am.**_

_**And I promise that this isn't like anything else you've read on fan-fic *or at least not what I have read;p***_

_**Oh and I'm still looking for a beta if anyone wants to be so kind.**_

"Commander, I'm detecting an anomaly from the planets' surface." EDI's voice cooed over the intercom.

Jane Shepard set the data pad down on the desk.

"What kind of anomaly?"

"It appears to be a distress signal, but encrypted data streaming with it. Commander, I believe this is a Cerberus facility."

Shepard's eyes narrowed and her stern green eyes swung toward Miranda.

"Do you know anything about this?"

"No, Commander. As I've stated before, I was only on the Lazarus Project. Whatever other facilities and operations the Illusive Man has going, I know nothing about them."

"Commander," EDI chimed again, "I am also detecting a Geth presence in the same area. It's logical to conclude this is the reason for the signal."

"Thanks EDI. Alright, well as much as I detest Cerberus, I do hate the Geth more. Garrus, Mordin lets go save some scientists."

From the shuttle they could see the facility. The edges were blazing with white fire from the Geth assault. Landing the shuttle to the far south end where the damage was the least, Shepard and her crew vaulted out and moved with a deadly and graceful precision. They moved through the building seeing the scattered bodies of a few scientists, but the only signs of life they saw were the Geth.

"Shepard," Garrus hummed through the com, "I'm not detecting anything but Geth."

"Right. Let's see if any of the squints are hiding or if they left any useful data. I'm always looking for another nasty secret against Cerberus."

They moved toward the center of the facility swiftly, and with every step Shepard felt a creeping sensation crawl up the back of her neck. The only noise all around was the wailing of the alarm the staff had sounded before their demise. The facility wasn't the same as the others they'd previously encountered. It had seemed to have been repurposed for some reason, with a bunch of temporary equipment scattered around.

"This doesn't feel right…" Garrus flanged.

The door in front of them slid open into a room lined with terminals and what seemed to be a central processor. There were half-dozen bodies in various positions around the room. One looked like he was in the middle of punching information into the terminal when he'd been shot. On the floor in front of the processor was a scientist laying in a pool of blood. There was a hole in the middle of his forehead, and a data chip in his hand.

Mordin plucked the chip out of the dead man's hand and immediately started analyzing it.

"Mmm, yes. Good good."

"What we got Mordin?"

"Uploading to EDI currently. Needs extensive analysis. Information makes little sense. Genetic manipulation? Nono. Interspecies cloning? No, also wrong. Title Project Oracle."

"Alright, well whatever this Project Oracle is you and EDI can work it out back on the ship."

Just then EDI chimed over the coms.

"Commander, I'm detecting a massive source of element zero in the adjoining room. It wasn't there a few moments ago, I'm finding this very…odd."

"Odd huh?" Shepard mused over EDI's choice of words. " Well, let's go see what the fuss is all about."

They all checked their clips and opened the door into a small courtyard and what they saw shocked them all.

There was a human woman kneeling over a scientist, legs straddled on either side of him, punching him repeatedly in the face. A guttural, angry scream was coming from her throat and she didn't appear to be stopping any time soon even though the man was clearly dead. That wasn't the strangest part either. She had a lab coat from one of the scientists but from what Shepard could tell, she appeared to be entirely nude underneath. Dark, curly hair stuck out in tendrils all over her head and blackish eyes blazed on her face.

"Well, she certainly doesn't like scientists much does she?" Garrus chuckled.

At that moment the crazy woman grabbed a pistol that had been lying beside her and plugged three shots into the dead man's cranium.

Shepard had lowered her gun half way when she was watching the woman but quickly jerked it back up as soon as she picked up the pistol.

"Easy there." Shepard tried to say in a calm, trustful manner.

The woman's head jerked up in surprise to look at Shepard, a baleful look on her face. She snarled at the commander, but saw the assault rifle in her hands and didn't even try to lift the pistol in her bloody hand. Shepard's green eyes locked with black eyes and she immediately saw they weren't truly black, but severely dilated to the point she couldn't tell what color they were.

"Test subject." Mordin murmured thoughtfully to himself.

The woman's eyes had been trained on Shepard the entire time, until Mordin spoke. As he spoke she saw the black eyes swing over to assess the new threat, and saw the look of utter shock cross her face. It was so profound the woman dropped her pistol.

"What the fuck?" Her voice cracked.

"Easy, we're not going to hurt you." Shepard lowered her rifle to show her.

Uncertainty flitted across her face, and Shepard could see the woman trying to grasp what was happening. At that moment Garrus screamed across the courtyard, gaze pointed to the rooftops.

"Armature!"

The three of them scattered from the giant blast, but the woman made no move. She just stared at the death shooting towards her. After a moment it seemed to dawn on her that she was in mortal danger, but had no time to move from her prone position. Shepard saw her raise her hands in futile defense as the shot blasted into the courtyard floor. They quickly dispatched the armature and scanned for further hostiles. Seeing none, Shepard quickly swung her gaze to what she was sure would be a charred mass at best and at worst a blood smear. Twice in so many minutes Shepard was shocked by what she saw.

Not only was the woman alive, but she was completely unharmed. She had her arms still up in a defensive position eyes squeezed tight and a grimace that told anyone looking that she was fully expecting to die. Around her was a small, but absurdly strong biotic barrier around her, smoke still rolling off it in waves.

"Jesus…"

"Spirits, not even Jack could take a full on blast from an armature."

The woman heard their voices and squeezed her eyes open slowly. Her arms lowered, and the barrier disappeared. She tried to stand, wobbling erratically, but failed. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and her body fell limply against the corpse she was still kneeling over.

"Shepard!" Joker's voice held an edge as he called across the comm. "EDI is detecting a self-destruct that's hiding in the alarm channel. She's trying to disable it now, but you need to get your asses out of there. Now!"

"Garrus, grab the woman. We'll take her with us and figure out what to do later."

Garrus swung the nameless woman across his shoulder, and the three of them bolted to the shuttle.

**_August 2025_**

The hot seaside breeze was blowing through her dark, curly hair pulling it back from her face as she drove down the highway. The radio was cranked and long slender fingers tapped on the steering wheel beating the rhythm while her mind wandered. She always loved the music, pulsing thing out that she was never able to quite put to words. Her gear was packed in the back of her jeep; ropes, harness, carabineers, chalk bag, not to mention the pack full of supplies that would last the weekend. It wasn't often she got to have a little time to herself especially after everything that had happened, so she was relishing the idea of a weekend alone. Recently, everything revolved around the questions.

She sighed, remembering she forgot to call her brother to tell him where she was headed. Oh well, she had to pull over for gas anyway. Spotting a sign for a Conoco, she pulled off, parked at the pump and flipped open her cell phone. She twitched impatiently as she waited through the monotonous rings and watched as the pump sucked a little more of her soul away. Finally.

"Hey Audrea, what's up?"

"Hey Finn, I just wanted to let you know David has the kids this weekend so I'm going the caverns for a few days."

"Good! I'm glad you decided to finally check in with me. I hate it when you go off alone and don't tell me where. I've seen 72 hours."

"Yeah, Yeah. That's why I'm calling you, dufus."

"Heh, it's only because I nag."

"Possibly. Got any big plans?"

"Oh yeah, I'm stoked. I'm taking that girl I told you about, Emily, out on Saturday."

"Ooooooo, well I wish you all the luck in the world bro. Mmm, don't tell her the story about the goat."

"Pfft, that's the best one. Talk to you later, Rea."

She laughed as they said their goodbyes, and she slid the phone closed, tossing it the passenger seat. Audrea paid and jumped back into the drivers' seat, eager to be back on her way. She hummed to herself, enjoying the moment, and before long she pulled off on the dirt track that lead to her favorite spot, Ocean Drop Caverns. Kicking her shift into park she popped her hatch and snatched her equipment with a well-practiced ease and slung it onto her back. Long legs ate up the dirt track as she strode down to the rocky and slightly concealed entrance. It wasn't a place that many people knew about, which made its appeal even greater to her and other cave dwelling enthusiasts. Rea slide through the small crag into a small antechamber. She dropped her bag, and let out a big sigh of relief. It was a good 15 degrees cooler in the cave, which made the droplets of sweat cool her skin quickly.

Audrea's bright green eyes wandered around the vaulted ceiling. Stalactites clutched tightly, faintly glimmering with streams of quartz. Thoughts unbidden wandered to a different cave deep in a desert half a world away. She could still feel his femoral artery leaking its life out from under her fingers, could still smell the scorched flesh, and could still hear the whistling of death from the confines of their small rocky womb. Nothing had been the same when she came back from that, and she couldn't do anything to change it, so she approached those memories with just trying to forget. She was no longer a surgeon, a soldier, or a lover. Rea scoffed at herself, shoved her ear-buds to plug the leaking thoughts and blasted them away with the click of a button.

Rea stepped into her harness, attached the chalk back, and settled the various clips into their assigned places. She walked from the antechamber to further back in the cave, the ceiling dramatically sweeping up with every step. Nestled in the darkness was her goal, a crevice barely larger than the width of her body. Audrea squeezed her body through the crack, dragging her bag sideways. It was only a few feet of navigating before she was able to nestle the pack onto her back. She attached on of the clips to the spike she'd used so many times before after a careful examination of its stability, and made all the appropriate knots to the sturdy nylon rope. She took a deep breath, gripped the rock with her strong hands and swung her feet out over the abyss.

Flex, grip, stretch.

Audrea let her body take over the familiar motions on the path she had traveled dozens of times. Normally she would have someone else with her. On any climb it was only prudent to have someone there for safety's sake, so many things could go wrong; equipment failure, rock stability, simple human error. This was one climb she could make on her own freestyle, so with a little gear and the appropriate knots it was a path she took often by herself. It still wasn't entirely safe to do, but the gear at least kept her brother off her back. He was always on to her about her borderline, self-destructive behavior.

After an hour of patient climbing Rea placed her feet back on the ground a few hundred yards from where she started. Her muscles burned slightly from the exertion, but the adrenaline that coursed through her more than made up for the fact. Unclipping herself from the rope, she left it attached to the wall, leaving it for her return.

Glancing at her watch, Rea sauntered across the rock, to the final cavern. Far to the left she could see the opening to the ocean. Waves crashed determinedly against the rock, and she smiled as she looked at the natural rock break keeping the turbulent ocean from disturbing the glassy pool that was in the center of the cave.

Rea quickly stripped off her pack and gear, kicked the flexible shoes off her feet, and dove into the pool. Ocean Drop was her favorite spot in the entire world. With only the two entrances, the climb that only a well-trained climber would make, and the small ocean entrance that only a crazy kayaker would take, it was secluded and beautiful. She had taken Trevor here once when they were on shore leave. They had camped in the cave over-night. Rea could still feel his breath hot on naked skin that had been chilled by the low temperature of the cave. That had been before…

She glided around the pool for a while, enjoying the weightlessness of her body that had been so heavy crossing an abyss just minutes before. She let her mind wander through memories she had of Trevor, forever skirting the one that made all others obsolete.

From the ocean entrance she could see the sun halfway down the horizon, blazing its colors proudly across the sky. It was time.

She ferreted a rock from her pack, brown and completely unremarkable. Rea pulled her dog tags from under her wet tank. Attached to her chain was a smaller chain with a second set belonging to one Trevor Raymore. Audrea detached the second set, took a deep breath and dove beneath the water. All the way to the bottom she swam, ignoring the pressure on her eardrums. Breathe escaped her in small bubbles as she buried the tags in the sandy bed and placed the rock from a different continent on top. An amusing thought crossed her mind. What if some geologist a thousand years from now found the desert rock amidst all the limestone? She hoped it would drive this imaginary man crazy trying to figure out the mystery.

Rea burst to the surface of the pool, gasping deeply to replace her air. It wasn't much, but it was the only thing she was able to do for him. She couldn't save his life, but she could bury a piece of him in the spot they loved.

She hauled herself out of the pool, and sat at the edge, watching the last bits of light fade.

Rea gasped awake as the world seemed to shake itself off its axis. She had fallen asleep at the edge of the pool; her head nestled on her pack. It was pitch black in the cave, and the only thing she could tell was that she was in real trouble. She was stuck in a cave in the middle of an earthquake. Audrea did the only thing she could at the moment and curled up into the fetal position, covering her neck and head with her arms. Rocks crashed around her and the earth groaned its protest loudly. She yelped as a stone struck her shoulder.

Seconds seemed to stretch into eternity, but after what she knew (but didn't feel) was a short time the tremors ceased and the world was quiet again.

Audrea vaulted herself off the floor, still feeling like the world was warbling around her. Her hands were shaking as she yanked her magnum from her bag and shone it around the room. The first thing she noticed was the ocean entrance was gone. Large boulders had smashed down on the already small opening. Dread started to well up in her and Rea bolted to the only other exit. The crevice on her side was clear, but as she waved her flashlight along the wall that should have been there, she came to the realization that the path she'd climbed so many times before was gone.

Shit. She was trapped.

Audreas' mind raced as she tried to grasp her situation. Mechanically her hands reached out to the rope she had fasted to the wall earlier for her return trip. Slowly she hauled the nylon up from where it had been knocked off the wall, wrapping it up. Stupid. She'd left her cell phone in her car. Not that it would have gotten reception in here anyway.

After retrieving her rope, she quickly packed the few things she had scattered.

She swept her magnum slowly across the walls, and thought to herself that if one wall had fallen, perhaps another had been open. It was a long shot, but Rea was never one to give into despair easily. After several minutes her beam landed on a crack on the wall adjacent to where the ocean entrance had been. Rea trotted quickly over to the slight promise of escape, mindful of the debris that now littered the floor. She waved her flashlight into the crack, and saw there was another cavern on the other side. It was especially dangerous to explore any new cave, much-less one that had only been opened because of an earthquake. There was no telling what can happen in undiscovered caves. There was little chance the area was stable, and there was always a risk of toxic fumes. Rea didn't care. At that moment the ugly beast of fear was gnawing at her. It told her she didn't want to be trapped again, no matter how big her prison this time.

Recklessly she squeezed herself into the unknown.

The new cavern was small and circular. The walls were smooth and a single stalagmite stretched toward the ceiling. Hopelessness swept over Rea as she realized there was nothing else in the room. She moved a couple of steps toward the stony pillar before her knees buckled and she sat heavily on the floor.

Rea pressed her forehead against the stalagmite and closed her eyes. The stone was starting to warm underneath her face as tears streamed down her cheeks. It was a few moments before she realized she was seeing a faint blue glow creep in through her eyelids. She snapped them open and her eyebrows drew together, trying to understand what she was seeing.

The pillar she thought was a stalagmite was a stone pillar, but it wasn't natural cut at all. Perfect and conical it was covered with carvings unlike any she had seen. The blue light was steadily growing, emitting from the runes, and soon she was able to switch the flashlight off. Amazement conquered fear as she stared at the alien structure. Higher brain function took over for a moment and she retrieved her camera from her sack and took a few digital pictures. There was no way anyone would believe her otherwise. All could claim her PTSD.

She put her camera back in her bag, and her long fingers reached out to trace some of the runes. The instant her skin touched the pillar, a screaming tore through her brain. Terrible, incomprehensible images sliced through her consciousness.

What she didn't see were the runes from the pillar, still glowing blue, march their way from the pillar, down her fingers and arm to settle on different parts of her body.

The last thing she felt before she lost consciousness was searing pain as the ancient writing flashed brightly and etched into her body.

Audrea floated in the empty spaces. Pure Id flew along the soft whiteness of her unconsciousness. She had to get away, away from the pain, away from the realities. She could feel the hounds of the Super ego on her ethereal heels. Faster!

Id was in desperate flight and Super ego in determined pursuit. Neither was paying attention to calm and patient Ego, who was the only one aware of the voices.

_"Doctor, her brain waves are off the chart. There's extreme activity on all levels."_

As Id traveled she could see snippets of the past. The tragic moments were traps, trying to snare so the Super ego could consume. So further she dove into the happiness. There moments with her brother Finn, and the birth of her two children, moments of child hood with her parents before they passed. Then there were so many images of Trevor. He was in his fatigues, rifle in hand and grinning like an idiot as they shot practice targets. They were at a café in Paris sipping coffee. They were lying naked in the cave. The cave…there was something important about the cave…

No!

"_Prepare another sedative, she's not ready yet."_

Id flew faster heedless of direction. Super ego was directly behind herding her into the darker memories. She saw the look in David's eyes and she learned the truth. Her parents charred remains lay on the pavement, the government boarding school and all the tests, endless tests. His hands were around her throat, squeezing the life out. There was the war, endless and bloody, and Trevor's eyes glassy, empty as the Chinese soldiers dragged her away from his lifeless body.

_"Doctor they're not having any effect."_

_"We can't let her regain consciousness yet, there's still much to do."_

Id was trapped. All around she could only see the memories that had wounded her. She was back in the camp, starving and empty, bloody and hopeless. There were eyes as empty as hers, pleading, begging her to do something. It was only a matter of time before Super ego would consume her.

Ego was the only one that heard the alarms ringing through the facility.

_"Attention all employees, secure all research and evacuate. Self-destruction sequences have been initiated."_

Id whirled around desperately looking for an escape but there was none. Super ego closed the distance rapidly, and Id was paralyzed as Super ego sucked Id into itself. Ego quickly moved to Super ego and let it-self join, after a moment the person that was Audrea was back together.

Rea gasped desperately as her torso jumped upright of the metal table. Alarms were sounding all around her, and there were tags and wires all around her body. She ripped them off her body and tried to slide to the ground, but her legs were limp noodles and Rea collapsed. Her psyche may be back together, but utter confusion had its grip on her. She was alone and naked in a medical room, and there was something akin to a fire alarm going off around her.

She had to find a way out.


	2. Stranger Made By Aither

It wasn't the narrowest escape she had ever had, but it was far closer than what she would have liked. Only Cerberus would be sadistic enough to place a self-destruct sequence where no one could hear it. The shuttle carried them back to the Normandy and soon the three of them were walking through the airlock. The mysterious woman was still unconscious and Garrus carried her down to the med-bay. He was gentler about it this time, cradling her against his chest and vainly attempting to keep her scavenged lab coat tucked around her.

"Why Garrus, you're perfectly chivalrous."

"Shhh Shepard, don't spread it around. It will detract from my roguish charm." He smirked sideways at her, but Shepard knew him well enough that she could tell that he was uneasy about the situation.

She didn't blame him, there was something strange about this woman, and she couldn't place her finger on it.

Garrus' strode through the med-bay doors on his long legs and carefully laid the woman on the narrow bed. Mordin was off to his lab, data disk in hand, to confer with EDI and try and figure out what Cerberus had been doing to this woman. Dr. Chakwas immediately went to assessing the woman's condition.

"Who's our new guest?" the doctors' voice held a note of concern.

"It's uncertain at this point, but we found her in the facility. Careful with her though Chakwas, I'm not sure how mentally stable she is, and she displayed some absurdly powerful biotics. She took a point blank shot from an armature cannon with her shields."

"Impressive." Shepard her Miranda's voice drawl from behind her. "But please don't tell me we're going to have another Jack on our hands. One is plenty for this ship."

"Well, I couldn't very well leave her to die in that facility. However crazy she is, _your_ people did it to her."

Miranda gave her a sour look and sashayed out of the room. Chakwas was deep into her doctor mode, and didn't look up as she spoke to Shepard.

"I'll let you know what condition she's in when I'm done with her assessment. This may take a while; her vitals are showing she's been through a very severe trauma. Whatever Cerberus did to her, it wasn't kind."

"Thanks Doc." Shepard exited the room, leaving the woman in Chakwas capable hands.

_**BREAK**_

Audrea was back to floating. It was less frightening this time, and her psyche was firmly back together. She wandered aimlessly in the dark void heedless of where she was going. She was content just to exist. She realized after a time that she was seeing images flash by, faces mostly, with some places time to time. She had traveled a lot, and the places she was seeing now seem so alien to her. Sky piercing towers rose from different metropolises and bright lights threw their multi colored blanked across them all.

Rea was quickly becoming confused. She'd believe that she wouldn't recognize a city or two, but all of them seemed improbable.

She pressed her was through the darkness, back to the faces she had seen. None were familiar, and they all seemed normal. If she had been in her body, she would have sighed. She moved to another face and started when she realized she had just seen this woman. Short red hair and bright green eyes were in front of her. Rea saw the woman clad in thick black armor with N7 stamped on it, military obviously, but nothing she recognized. She held a strange rifle in her hands.

As she studied the woman, trying to figure out more about her, the image disappeared. In her place there was now a city she recognized, one Rea had been to many times. London. She could see the famous landmarks spread before her, but there was the same foreignness the other cities. There were structures that should be there, and even the river Themes was strange. It took her a moment to recognize that it wasn't the filthy mess that it should have been, that it flowed with a deep blue that it should have been before mankind settled on its banks. As she studied the city and its curiosities the image shifted again. It was still London before her, but this time it was the modern city on fire. Giant fireballs pelted the city mercilessly, and strange creatures were flooding the streets. It shocked Rea so much that she jerked away and sped towards her unconscious body.

_**Break**_

"Commander," Dr. Chakwas' concerned voice piped into the com, "I've finished with the initial scan on our guest. Can you come down to the med-bay; some of this is going to be difficult to explain."

Shepard's eyebrows knitted together, creating a small furrow in between them.

"I'll be right down."

Shepard quickly made her way down eager to know if this new visitor would pose a threat to her ship and crew. The doors slid open and Chakwas looked up from her terminal, a slightly puzzled look on her handsome face.

"What did you find out?"

"Well, for starters, her name is Audrea Cox."

"She regained consciousness?"

"Not yet. She had these on her." Chakwas raised a pair of dog tags off the desk.

"Military? Is she reported missing in any of the Alliance data bases?"

EDI chimed in from over-head.

"No, Commander. I did an extensive search in the Alliance personal files, even the ones with restricted access, and there is no Audrea Cox in any of the current records."

"Strange," Shepard murmured out loud.

"We haven't even gotten to the strange part." Chakwas stated ominously, handing the dog tags to Shepard. "According to these dog tags Audrea Cox was born October 7th, 1995."

Shepard studied the tags in disbelief.

"That's impossible."

"Improbable certainly Commander," EDI corrected, "But I did extensive analysis on the metal the dog tags are made of, and it holds consistent with the combination of metals that was used by Alliance military when it was first formed during Earths third world war. With further analysis I may be able to find an Audrea Cox in history archives, but I'm afraid the older format is incompatible with our advanced systems."

"There's more Commander." Chakwas uttered uncomfortably.

"More than this?" She scoffed incredulously.

"Well, it could be that the tags are some ancestors of hers, one that she just happens to share the exact height, weight, eye and hair color, but it's her physiology that holds the greatest mystery."

Chakwas brought up all the stats on her terminal.

"Here is a normal human's brain function, and here are hers. You see this line here compared to the regular, its suggesting brain function beyond anything I've ever seen. I'm not certain if this is just in her unconscious state, or if it has to do with all the drugs that Cerberus had pumping through her. I've been flushing them out for the past 12 hours, and in that aspect at least, she should be back to 'normal' soon.

"The rest of her body has been greatly abused. I can tell you she's about 30 and has had children. Her muscular structure is quite exquisite. It's well developed and well trained. There are a few tattoos but I couldn't tell you what they mean; they seem sentimental. She has several interesting scars all over her body that suggest she was tortured in a rudimentary fashion, and I removed the remnants of antique bullet from her scapula. "

Chakwas pulled back the light sheet over certain parts of Audreas' body, showing the jagged lines of old wounds and the puckered marks of burns.

"Jesus, did Cerberus do this to her?"

"I couldn't say. They're healed and a few years old and the newest happened within the last 24 hours, mostly on her fists."

"Yeah, she was beating a man's' face to a pulp when we found her."

"While I was doing an analysis of her skin tissue I found something…well…take a look for yourself."

Chakwas lowered the blinds and turned off the lights.

"I was doing standard cultures of the natural flora of her skin, making sure she wasn't harboring any harmful agents."

Shepard started, getting worried where this was going.

"She isn't is she?"

"Oh no, no. It's all normal in that regard, but while I was doing UV tests I found this."

Chakwas flicked on a UV lamp, illuminating the room in a dark blue glow. Shepard gasped when she saw. Audrea's skin lit up with an intense shine. There appeared to be some sort of writing all over her skin, its letters glowing with an azure intensity. It marched up and down her body, blocky and indecipherable, leaving just enough room in between to distinguish one letter from another. The only spot clear on her entire body was her face. It was bare and dark except for one glyph on her forehead and two below each eye.

Shepard heard the doors slide open behind her, and she turned her head slightly to see Garrus walk into the room. She saw his mandibles droop open in shock as he saw the glow. Chakwas covered the naked woman back up with the sheet, giving her a little bit of dignity. She clicked off the UV and brought the regular lights back up with a deep look on her face.

"What language was that?" Garrus hummed thoughtfully.

"Garrus Vakarian, there is no such language in my databases." EDI prompted.

Shepard sighed and started pacing slowly around the room, trying to figure out what all of this meant.

"There's one last thing Commander. You stated that she showed a powerful biotic ability down on the surface, so I did a scan to see what type of implant she had," Chakwas hesitated a moment before proceeding.

"I didn't find one. Instead element zero has been fused into every cell in her body."


	3. A Stranger Awakes

**_A/n So I had a little harder time with this chapter. I know where I'm going but it was a little harder to get down then I thought. If anyone has any thoughts or concerns please, just let me know. Oh! and reveiw please. It's true what they say about it being writers crack.=)_**

Audrea jerked up off the table in a panic. Her arms flung out wildly and her left elbow made solid contact with something, though she barely heard the staccatoed 'ouch' from the recipient. She tried to launch herself off the table to flee, but her moments were met with resistance. Hands were on her legs, keeping them from kicking, and an alternate set on her shoulders, keeping her pinned to the table.

"_Doc!" _A stern, urgent voice made demands with a single word.

"It's alright Commander, the sedative should be taking effect soon," an older, refined voice reassured.

The restraining hands kept her from thrashing any further, and Rea felt the wild pounding of her heart start to slow. Her breathing calmed and the overwhelming urge to flee subsided. As her vision cleared, she saw the face of the woman who had just been in her dream holding her legs down. Rea saw the woman look from the doctor to her, and they're eyes locked.

"You're alright now. You're going to be just fine, but we need you to calm down." The woman was tall and lanky. Red hair was cut short framing a pretty face, and vibrant green eye stood out as they assessed the Audrea's reaction. Rea could see strange scars spider webbing across her cheeks and forehead.

"You," Rea tried to speak, but her voice came out in a croak. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I just saw you..."

"Yes, I'm Commander Shepard Alliance Navy, and we just rescued you from a Cerberus facility. If we let go of you, do you think you could refrain from elbowing anyone else in the face. I think you stung Garrus' pride a little."

Rea nodded weakly and Shepard's hands let go of her legs. What she had thought were hands on her shoulders turned out to be a set of talons. Rea sat up slowly, looking at the doctor's encouraging smile and Shepard's passive gaze. She took a deep breath and shifted to look at the owner of the strange hands. Her astonished eyes took in the tall alien form, mandibles, armored plating, fringe and all. She stared for several minutes before Garrus coughed uncomfortably and she was shaken out of her trance. Rea noticed a trickle of blue liquid coming from what appeared to be his nose.

"Um…sorry," she pointed to his face. "I was having…a, uh, bad dream."

Garrus lifted a shoulder in a half shrug, and his mandibles flared in an odd grin.

"Not the worst hit I've taken to the face."

Shepard barked a laugh and regarded Rea's continually stunned face.

"Do you remember how you were abducted by Cerberus?"

"Cerberus…" Rea mused thoughtfully, trying to grasp at anything in her brain that would bring a little understanding to this distinctly odd situation. She ticked through a small list in her brain, hallucinations, delusions, brain trauma, dreams. Dream! All of this had to be a dream; a strangely vivid, off the wall dream. Rea had sat there for a full minute thinking this before Dr. Chakwas cleared her throat.

"Commander, let us start simply. Our patient has been through a considerable ordeal and is obviously confused. Could you tell us your name, dear?"

"Yeah, my name is Audrea Cox. My friends call me Rea."

"Audrea, that's very pretty. Could you tell me your birthday?"

"October 7th, 1995."

"And the date?"

"Umm…" Rea was trying to recall the exact date. "I'm not sure exactly. It's August 2025 but whatever happened I feel like I've lost a week or two."

She saw Shepard and Dr. Chakwas exchange enigmatic looks to each other.

"It's only been that long, right? I was supposed to be back after the weekend, my family will be worried. Has anyone contacted them?"

Shepard held out the chain with Audrea's dog tags, handing them back to her.

"These belong to you."

Rea slipped them back over her neck, not failing to notice that these strangers hadn't answered her questions. Chakwas piped in again.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Audrea paused for a moment trying to put all the pieces back together.

"I'm not sure…there's something missing. The last thing I can remember right now is talking to my brother Finn on the phone; I was going on a weekend trip in southern Oregon. I can't remember what happened after that call though."

Rea frowned, disturbed at this loss of knowledge. She'd had many terrible things happen to her, and could remember ever second of it. What could have possibly happened that she would forget? She knew she went to the caves, but after that…what?

"So, Alliance Navy? I'm on a ship then?"

"Yes, you're aboard the SSV Normandy."

Rea frown at the unfamiliar tag. She'd been in the marines herself, so she didn't know an extensive amount about the navy, but SSV was something she hadn't heard before. As she was trying to puzzle this out Shepard asked a question.

"So you're part of the military. Could you tell me a little more about where you served?"

"Yeah, I was part of the 3rd Army Brigade, part of the medical corp. We were stationed overseas, part of the battle of Bangkok, and we were there for the fall of Hong Kong, been in the Philippines, Tibet, and the last place I was stationed was Mongolia." Rea's eyes glazed over for a minute, seeing that desert and that cave all over again. "That was about two years ago."

She waited for the questions that inevitably came when someone found out about Mongolia, about the Baruun massacre, and if she was really one of the rescued POW's. The inquiry never came. Rea looked up sharply at Shepard, who had a thoughtful look on her face. There was no malice or sympathy on her face. It was as if she had never even heard of Mongolia, much less that obscure city where so many Alliance troops had lost their lives. Every military person she knew had an opinion about that battle, and not one of they could keep their mouths shut about it, but Shepard just stood there with her arms crossed over her chest and a faraway look on her face as if she were trying to remember something.

Silence reigned for a few more minutes, and Rea started to take stock of her surroundings. The med bay was strange, equipment she didn't recognize were in various spots around the room. The uniform that Shepard wore was different from what she'd seen other Navy officers ware. It was a different cut, material, and color.

Then there was the fact there was an alien looking creature standing right next to her. As if that wasn't fact enough to tell her something wasn't terribly wrong.

"You said you rescued me from Cerberus. What government do they work for?"

"They don't. They have their own agenda with absurd notions of human superiority, and probably galactic domination."

"Human superiority…" Rea rolled the words around her mouth, letting ideas come and go at whim. "You both had a look on your face when I answered the date for you. I'm inclined to believe I was a bit off, so if you wouldn't mind, would you tell me the real date?"

Dr. Chakwas was quiet; unsure if telling would be the smart idea. Shepard answered with only a slight hesitation.

"The year is 2184."

"2184…that's…ug, I think I'm going to be sick." Rea slid off the table, her limbs barely responsive. She felt someone gripping her arm supportively, and as she looked she saw the strange taloned hand again. It didn't do anything to make her feel better. Her legs gave a little as she tried to sit on the floor, but Garrus's hand kept her from spilling onto the floor. Rea put her head against her knees and breathed slowly through her nose, waiting for the nausea to subside.

"So, you're saying that whatever happened to me, whatever this Cerberus was doing to me, it's been 160 years since my last memory."

Shepard let out a heavy sigh.

"We don't know, but you're last memory is in 2025 and it's now 2184 so…" She trailed off uncertain what to say from there. "We doing everything we can to figure this out, Cerberus are no friend of ours. For now you'll be a guest on the Normandy. Dr. Chakwas is going to monitor you, and run a few tests to see if there's anything more we can figure out. Just try and relax, and if you remember anything else let the doc know."

"Yeah…tests." Rea muttered to herself bitterly, head still resting on her knees.

"Commander," EDI's voice came over the intercom, "Your presence is needed."

"Thanks EDI." Shepard replied. She looked over at Garrus and twitched her head to the side, silently asking him to leave the room with her. They left the room with Rea sitting on the floor, in the same position she had taken earlier. As the doors slid shut, Garrus thrummed in disbelief.

"So Shepard, you just rescued a 200 year old human from a Cerberus base. I must say for her age she looks quite virile."

"Commander, "EDI chimed as Shepard grimaced over Garrus's mistimed humor, "I was able to access the information regarding Audrea Cox, and I've uploaded it to your terminal."

"Thank you EDI."

Shepard left Garrus, who wandered his way back to the main battery, and made her way to the loft. She sat at her desk, and opened the information EDI had provided for her. They were clearly old records, and attached was a digital photograph of a younger Audrea in an ancient military uniform. The hair that Shepard had only seen in a wild disarray was tightly coifed under her hate, and she could see the eyes that had be frighteningly dilated on the planet were bright and green, much like her own. She was pretty, but not exceedingly beautiful, with a straight nose and symmetrical face. Most people didn't smile in their official military photo, but Shepard could see the slight curl at the edges of Audrea's mouth and a small crinkle around her eyes.

She dug her way through the records. Audrea was well decorated, proving herself an exceptional soldier. Everything she had said in the med-bay was listed as well as plenty that wasn't. She was part of the medical corp, but she was in some experimental type of program to send specialized field surgeons out with first strike teams. This discovery was quickly forgotten as Shepard gazed over the last bit of her records.

She read about the Baruun Massacre. There had been 20,000 Alliance troops at the edge of the Gobi desert, holding the small, but vital city. They had been looking to the south after the Chinese troops, leaving their backs exposed to Russia, who was supposed to be part of the alliance. Here Shepard remembered from her history lessons from her own Alliance training. Russia had switched sides in the middle of the war and had swept down from the northern border, and had destroyed thousands of soldiers, leaving only a few survivors.

Audrea was one of those survivors, held at a POW camp for more than a year, until the end of the third world war.


	4. Ambrosia & Antics

It had been a few days since Audrea had woken up on the Normandy, and she still couldn't shake the feeling that she was walking around in a waking dream. The only thing that kept her from convincing herself that she was just taking a trip in a strange sci-fi wonderland was the fact she actually slept at night, and those dreams were seeded with humans and aliens in some of the cities she had seen in her first dream.

Everyone had been kind in an awkward sort of way, but she'd only met a few people. _Do you call an alien species 'people', or do they have their own version of the word? _ She idly wondered. Most of her exposer had been Commander Shepard and Doctor Chakwas. Shepard had her endless questions and Chakwas her endless tests. It was Shepard's questions that helped convince her that what was happening was actually reality. She knew so much about her military career, much of which had been classified. That and she spoke about the War in a manner of someone who hadn't seen the events. Rea could tell the Commander was a hardened veteran, and when she asked questions she asked them in the way Rea had asked questions in the academy about WWII. Doctor Chakwas tests, she endured with a grudging patience. Some were tests she'd endured after her liberation from the camp, respiratory, cardiovascular, and psychological. Chakwas even had the ships' AI to administer an IQ test. That was a concept she was still getting use to. Mankind in her time had been trying to develop artificial intelligence, but as far as she knew the tech geeks were still in the dreaming stage. All Rea's knowledge of AI's came from movies where they were trying to dominated they're human makers.

"You have impressive levels for a human." EDI said in that strange voice.

"Umm, thanks I guess." Rea replied, uncertain if it was a compliment or an insult.

Chakwas had wanted to do some tests on what she called Rea's biotics, but she was unable to duplicate anything that even looked slightly like the magic mumbo-jumbo the doc was talking about. She understood the basics of what Chakwas was explaining, but she hadn't even heard of element zero until the doc brought up the subject.

"Well, what is it you did down in the facility?" Chakwas asked, trying to get Rea to think.

"I ducked, "She huffed, slightly amused. "I saw that beam shoot straight at me, and the only thing I could do was curl up and pray."

Chakwas let the subject drop after a few more inquiries and a demonstration from Samara. Whatever Audrea had done, it had been inadvertent. Biotics stayed in the front of Rea's mind, even if the doctor stopped asking. There was something about the color of the biotic fields that scratched at the corners of Rea's memory. The glowing blue insisted that there was something Rea wasn't remembering.

Of course there was something she wasn't remembering. She and regained a little memory past speaking with Finn. Rea could remember burying Trevor's dog tags in the bottom of the pool but after that was a blur. She sighed frustrated, there was no point forcing her-self. Hopefully with time she would remember.

Mordin came irregularly, asking questions in a rapid fire succession. She could barely understand what he was saying most of the time, and the manner of his questions was bizarre. Rea had liked the crazy scientist. His manner of speech may have been one fragmented sentence after another, but his dry sense of humor reminded her of her British born father.

After two days of endless tests and questions, she begged for a respite, citing that she'd become traumatized if she didn't get a break. Chakwas chuckled slightly and relented, saying most of the questions she had were theory, and that Rea was perfectly fit, if a little battered from they escape from the Cerberus base.

"Whatever they were doing, it doesn't appear to have caused you any physical harm."

Rea was given leave to wander the ship as she saw fit, and she asked why they were trusting her in such a manner, she could have easily been a spy. EDI's voice spoke melodically to her.

"I assure you Ms. Cox that my sensors will be following you constantly."

"Well, that's just creepy, sorry I asked."

So there she sat in the mess room, in the furthest corner where she could watch the activities around her without being in the way, and hopefully without too many people staring at her. Rea was pressing her palms against the table top, smoothing away imaginary lines, and thinking about the family she'd left behind when the man walked up to her wearing a cooks apron.

"Hey, I just finished grub for dinner, and I thought you might want first dibs at it before the other scavengers float in here. Grunt's the worst, he body checks on a regular basis. Or maybe Jacks the worst, that crazy bitch has stabbed more than a few people with a fork. 'Love taps' she calls them."

Rea looked up surprised, but thanked the man and followed him over to the buffet style he had set up. It was her first meal out of the med-bay, and she looked at the spread before her. He handed her a plate and pointed at the containers. Some were labeled with red tags, and some with blue. He said the blue were dextro and turned to finish the last few preparations. Audrea had no clue what dextro meant but since he had made sure to point it out, she could only be polite and try some. She scooped some sort of green noodle onto her plate along with a variety from the red containers and wandered back to the spot in the corner.

Minutes later the mess started to fill up. Crew members filled the table haphazardly. Alien sat next to human and while there were a few that clearly didn't like each other, they all laughed together in an easy manner that suggested a well knitted camaraderie that she was all too familiar with. She laughed at a few of the stories the pilot Joker had in his extensive arsenal. It was good to know a perv was a perv no matter what the century. She eased a little into her surroundings; it had been so long since she had been at a military it was comforting to listen to the banter back and forth.

"So how are you adjusting to life on ship?" the dark haired human named Kaiden asked politely.

"Well, it seems to be pretty much the same as military life as I knew it. Oh, unless you throw in the space ship, the unabashed AI, and multiple alien species." Rea grinned wryly. "Though, the food is ten times better. Our mess cook was atrocious, what is this noodle anyway it's delicious."

Rea stabbed another piece with her fork and took another bite, and noticed Kaiden's dark completion ashen a little.

"What? It is not pasta? I thought it was a little strange."

"It's dextro based." Kaiden choked out.

"Yeah, the cook mentioned that. Does that stand for extra delicious?" Read popped another forkful in her mouth chewing contentedly.

Garrus leaned forward from across the table and couple seats down. His long arm reached the distance easily, and plucked the fork from her hand, noodle dangling from the prongs. She gave him a puzzled look as he spoke, the strange harmonics adding to the solemnity.

"Dextro is a type of protein that make up us Turians, and the Quarians. Food made up of dextro proteins is the only kind we can consume, and is poisonous to humans. How much of this did you eat?"

Rea choked on the dextro pasta as Garrus said poisonous. It seemed to latch onto her esophagus and she had to take several swigs of water to force it down.

"Poisonous…I've had a whole helpings worth. What kind of poisonous? Are we talking arsenic poison, or allergy poison?"

Several of the crewmen held grimaces on their faces, and Kaiden was already gone from the table. She could see him across the room, with his head poked into the med bay and seconds later Dr. Chakwas was storming out, thunder clouds rolling over her head.

"If this is some sort of hazing ritual to welcome a new face on board, I am _not_ okay with this. In fact I will skin anyone who gave her this."

Chakwas fingers prodded Audrea, checking her pulse, fingering the lymph nodes in her neck, and making her eyes constrict with an all too handy penlight.

"It's alright Doc, no one gave it to me. In fact, I was warned that it was dextro food. I just didn't really understand what that meant…" Audrea trailed off and gave the doc a sheepish look. Chakwas sighed, and patted her hand, relenting on the lecture she was about to give.

"Well," Chakwas paused, thinking for a moment, "You ate this several minutes ago?"

"Yeah, I guess about ten minutes."

"It appears you'll be just fine. Humans can't digest dextro food; in the best case it just passes through the urinary system like any other indigestible protein but it most cases it causes an adverse reaction causing anaphylaxis. You would have responded already if you were going to have a reaction, but I wouldn't try consuming any more dextro food. Your secondary immune responses could kick in next time." Chakwas wasn't sure if it was just a lack of reaction, or if it had something to do with Audreas' EZ infused cells that kept her from having a reaction, but the doctor didn't feel like making her feel any more out of place by mentioning it.

Audrea thanked the doctor as Chakwas retreated back to her territory. She sat back down in her seat, picking at the food that had been so delicious before. Everything that had felt so familiar moments ago now was showing its glaring differences. Rea tried to ignore the awkward silence that had settled over the table, but she saw the pilot was leaning between Garrus and Tali, whispering something in the Turian's ear. Simultaneously Joker leaned back, laughing manically, and Garrus turned toward him with a shocked look on his face, mandibles flared wide.

"Humans do such a thing?" Skepticism heavily laced his words, but there was a hint of intrigue as well

"Bosh'tet! That's disgusting." Tali smacked Joker in the chest with the back of her gloved hand.

"Eeeasy Tali, watch the bones."

"Oh I'm so sorry Keelah!

Laughter and conversation resumed, much to Audrea's relief, but she also had the feeling she was the butt of Jokers antics. She was no fool, and recalled what Garrus had just said about Turians being made of dextro proteins. She wasn't one to go down without a fight, though. Any woman who spent extensive time in any career that was predominately male learned to roll with the perverted punches and where possible, beat them at their own game. She called out to Joker, who was still chuckling at himself.

"So Joker, I know I'm new to this century and I was wondering if you could help me out with something."

A few people looked up from their meals interested where she was going with it.

"You seem to be the type that's well versed in slang, so I was wondering if they still called it the marine's protein shake, or if they had a more 'spacey' name for it. Spaceman's protein shake, hmmm, that has a ring to it."

Joker, who was drinking his water when she asked, choked in surprise. The table erupted in laughter as Joker tried to clear his airways, and they spent the next half hour exchanging their favorite terms for fellatio


	5. History Lessons & Hand to Hand

_**A/N Reposting to see if it fixes reveiw problems.**_

_**I was asked when the story took place in the story line, and I sadly neglected to mention that. This all happens towards the end of ME2, after all the recruitment missions. **_

_**I'm also looking for a beta reader if anyone is interested. I need someone more focused with story flow then with grammar, and someone who can point out any glaring mistakes I make in timelines.**_

Rea had found herself the perfect spot. In the far back corner of the cargo bay there was a pyramid of containers filled with little used supplies. They were stacked a way that left a wide level area on top. It was an easy climb for someone who could cling to mere inches of rock by her fingertips for a very long time. Up there she could sit and listen to the busy noises that echoed through the wide open space; the crewmen talking and the rattle of power tools as they went about their work. It reminded her more of a military base than anywhere else on the Normandy. The rest of ship, while it had the constant thrum of the engines, had an oppressive silence that seemed to threaten from space. Everything was more muffled and felt like the brief time she spent on a submarine.

Tali had been kind enough to give Rea her spare omni-tool.

"It isn't very fancy, but it's something I think everyone should have. I'd feel as lost without mine as I would be without my suit. Less dead though."

So she spent all her free time going through 160 years of history. Not just human, but galactic in general. She decided the best place to start was with her own. Through the words of historians she relived her war. It was strange to read about events that had triggered the start of third and final world war from a man who hadn't even been alive when it happened. There was the explosion of a Japanese nuclear plant, the second of the decade, that was found to be the work of terrorists, and there was the massive increase in Chinese power combined with a president that was thought to be half insane. He was later linked to many of the terrorist groups. There were the quickly depleting natural resources and the exponential increase of terrorist cells across the world and one in particular that caught her attention. It was the bombing of the House of Lords, where a good portion of England's government had perished, including her own parents.

She was use to reading it from scathing words of reporters, demanding to know how the government could let this happen. She was use to hearing from the impassioned words of TV anchors who mourned the dead, some visibly crying on air. It was strange to read the words from someone who only saw it all in the historical sense. They couldn't write about the feel of devastation as the world slowly tore itself apart. They didn't know about the feeling of dread that everyone carried with them for the few years leading up to China's invasion of Japan.

Rea read through battles she had participated in, and those she hadn't. Things that had happened in the fourteen months she was imprisoned in the camps outside of Turpan. She felt disconnected as she read about the liberation of the Turpan camps. There were a few old photographs archived that she quickly closed, having no desire to see what she had permanently etched into her brain. She laughed in surprise when she saw her own name mentioned. She was given the credit of organizing an internal rebellion against their Chinese captors, though that was hardly how it happened. It was amusing, though, to see that she'd been labeled a hero, when all she had done was survived. Survived and gotten revenge. Everything else that happened in consequence happened to be a combination of luck and good timing.

EDI would filter things to Rea she had found, doing her queries. She saw the newspaper clippings about her disappearance, and subsequent search. Her Jeep had been found outside the caves the day after she was supposed to return. There'd been seismic activity in the area and after they found the crumbled caves. There'd been a hasty excavation, but a body was never found. There'd been no sign she'd even been there, except for her Jeep. This made her frown. She was slowly remember bits, and knew that there'd been an earthquake the night she was in the cave, and knew she tried to find a way out but the rest was a blur of images that didn't make sense. Her disappearance was labeled a tragic accident, but remained an unsolved mystery. Without the existence of a body there were a few of her friends, including her brother that insisted that she was alive. Once, a cracked reporter had even suggested that she'd defected and was now living in Russia. That little bit had made her huff to herself for a moment, but as she read through a few succeeding articles she saw the reporter attacked with such brutal text she could hear the journalistic bitch slap all these years later. Her obituary had been heart wrenching, mentioning she was survived by her children twins Aiden and Sofia Cox age 7, an ex-husband David Cox, and her brother Finn Sephirde. It was sweet, highlighting her accomplishments and bravery. She could tell it was written by her brother.

The war had continued for two more years until some Chinese higher up name Xian Cho defected with all his access codes and just like that it was over. The Alliance gained access to the enemy's defenses and destroyed their troops until they surrendered. In 2027 the third world war ended, ten years after the first invasion, and almost twenty from the first ripples of terrorism.

She had felt living through it that the fight had been endless, and the only way that it would end was for some crazy politician to decide it was time to finally push the big red button, or releasing some terrible biological agent. That it all ended so abruptly surprised Rea.

There were years of rebuilding. Millions of people had been killed and all governments were in shambles from their losses, and the Alliance that had been formed only to destroy an enemy unanimously agreed that in their condition none of them could survive without the others. So instead of disbanding to rebuild dozens of governments, they stayed united to form one. It had been the birth of the Alliance that was still functioning today.

"EDI, have you found anything else on my children."

"I have uploaded the information I have found on your daughter Sofia from birth to death and what I've found on your son Aiden until age 24, but I was unable to locate him from that age. There is no death certificate, and he seems to have disappeared from there. I am still making inquiries."

Rea sighed miserably, wondering what her kids went through. She knew the loss of both parents but she'd been thirteen, but they were both so young when she'd disappeared. She had also known exactly what had happened to her parents, but she had disappeared off the face of the Earth, literally. How do you find closure for something when you didn't even know what happened?

The noise from below had changed, waking Rea from her revelry. She slid forward on her stomach, peering over the edge to see what all the commotion was about. Tools had been put away, and crates shoved aside. Mats had been placed meticulously on the floor, and a group had formed. In the center Jack and Samara were fighting hand to hand.

"Why it's a good ole sparring match." Rea murmured to herself.

She continued to lay up top, watching the two go at it. Jack was aggressive, never hesitating between attacks. Samara was smooth, deflecting expertly and precisely placing her attacks. Both were quite good and the bout went on for some time, but eventually Samara won. She was winded was Jack's lungs were sucking the oxygen in.

"Jack I commend your improvement, but still you attack sporadically with the intent to confuse. It works on a lesser trained opponent but as you see on a better trained combatant it is just a waste of energy." Samara critiqued in a matter of fact manner.

"Bite me." Was all Jack replied, a slight hint of a smile on her mouth. She stretched her arms up and looked around. Jack caught a glimpse of Rea high on her perch.

"Hey, you gargoyle we've been looking for you! Come show us what you got."

Rea laughed a deep, throaty laugh. Finn use to call her a gargoyle whenever she would climb around their family home.

A few of the others called out their encouragement, and with a few well-placed drops, Rea was on the floor, casually walking over. While her father had been a politician and blue blooded, her mother had been his opposite, adventuring and free spirited. Something she had passed on to Audrea. Once she had discovered Audrea had inherited that part, she insisted that her daughter knew how to defend herself in any situation, and a slue of training in different styles followed for many years. It was something Rea had enjoyed and continued into adulthood, something particularly handy in the military, even if it was never used.

Everyone smiled good naturedly at her, with a few nuggets of trash talking filtering through. Joker walked up to her, chortling in a satisfied manner.

"I'll be your referee and bookie, this evening."

"Wait…that's the biggest conflict of interest I've ever heard." Rea protested.

"Don't worry; referee is a largely ceremonial title. It's usually pretty clear who the winner is, my job is to just keep track of the money."

"So what are the rules?"

"There're only a few. One, no biotics or weapons, that includes teeth and talons in case you were wondering. Two, this is a friendly competition, so no maiming or attempted murder if you were so inclined."

"Well, that's a relief." Audrea commented, slightly sarcastic.

"Other than that it's free game. We'll set you up with an easy one first, just so you don't feel intimidated. Kaiden is a pud-wacker when it comes to hand to hand." Kaiden, hearing Joker's unflattering comments, shot him a dirty look.

Audrea kicked her shoes off and stretched, loosening her muscles as Kaiden lined up across from her. She shook her arms loose, and bounced slightly on the balls of her feet in anticipation of the fight. Joker called out, the normally tenor voice lowered to sound like an old school boxing announcer.

"In this corner, sporting the black fatigues, and the slicked back doo it's the Master of Migraines, Kaiden!"

"Stuff it Joker."

"And in this corner, also sporting the black, though with far better hair, it's the Blast from the Past, Audrea!"

She laughed, and there were a few whistles and cheers after each introduction.

"Go!" Joker called and immediately they started circling each other. Audrea kept her body sideways, arms up and fists loose as she studied Kaiden's movements. They exchanged a few blows, testing each other out. She could tell he wasn't as bad as Joker made him out to be, but it wouldn't be very difficult to incapacitate him. In her years she had learned there were two types of men when it came to fighting. The ones that would only respect you if you took them out fast and hard, and the ones that would hate you for it because of their misplaced pride. She didn't know him well enough to be able to tell which he was, so she played it safe, exchanging blows. After a few minutes, she grew bored. She feinted with a punch from her left and swept with her right foot, knocking Kaiden's feet out from under him. She grabbed his arm, wrapping her own legs around them and incapacitated him with an arm bar, quickly ending the fight.

There were hollers and cheers, and an exchange of credits at the end of the match. Audrea dislodged herself from the arm and stood, offering Kaiden a hand off the floor. She helped him to his feet and he commented amiably as he walked off the mat.

"That was a good fight; you had me completely out matched."

Rea smiled with relief that he wasn't going to have pride issues, and thanked him. Joker came up laughing and congratulating and saying that they needed to see more of her skills to see how battle ready she was. It was total BS but Audrea decided to humor him.

"Okay then who would you like to match me against next?"

"Well," Joker paused in faux thought, "We know you have some skills but I think we all want to see how you do against a bigger opponent. How about a little bout against our friend Grunt."

Audrea scoffed at the absurd notion, looking at the massive Krogan. At 5'10" Rea was hardly small, but Grunt was easily twice her size, and she didn't even want to think about the weight disparity.

"You can't be serious. All he has to do is rip my arm and beat me to death with it."

"We have faith in you. Besides no maiming, remember."

Rea looked again at Grunt who stood there chortling deeply to himself, and pounding his fist into his palm as a warm up. She shook head, knowing she was insane for even thinking about it, but she also knew the importance of showing what she could do. As Joker introduced again, calling Grunt the Genetic Wonder, Garrus slide up behind her speaking encouragements.

"He's faster than he looks, but you're faster, and underneath the chin is a weak spot, if you can get to it."

Rea smiled her thanks at Garrus and the bout started. Grunt's reach was long, and he immediately started swinging hay-makers at her. She easily ducked out of the way, rolling around him as she had been taught to do with a larger more aggressive opponent. She was hoping to tire him out, so she could find an opening, but after several minutes of dodging and peppering him with cheap, ineffective shots, Rea knew she'd have to change her strategy. She backed off to the edge of the mats, and heard several cries of "Oh don't do that!" and when she realized why the massive Krogan was already charging towards her.

An idea flashed in her mind, and she responded to it as soon as she appeared, hoping that she wouldn't kill herself in the process. Instead of fleeing or dodging his charge, Rea charged back. She could see the surprise in Grunts eye as she decided to meet his attack head on. She heard Jokers voice call, "This is going to be baaad."

When her rush had reached the distance she hoped would work, Rea launched herself off the ground with her right foot. She tagged the top of his thigh with her left foot, using it for the extra propulsion and grabbed the top of his hump with both hands and smashed her right knee directly under his chin. As Grunt started falling backwards, stunned, he grabbed her around her waist bringing her to the ground with him. His back hit the mats and he released, and Audrea rolled off, with as much grace as she could manage. You didn't habitually climb to mind reeling heights without learning how to fall without hurting yourself.

Rea stood up and looked at Grunt, surprised and relieved that it had worked. She'd never had a chance to use that against anyone and hadn't been sure she'd have enough force behind it to stun him.

Jack was screaming, "He got knock the _fuck_ out!"

He had a glossy look to his eyes and was groaning slightly.

"I bi' meh 'ongue." He grumbled as he was helped up off the mats. He nodded toward Rea in acknowledgement.

"Impressive, meeting a charging Krogan head on, and taking me down while doing it. I like your style; you have a quad on you." Then he laughed the booming laugh that resonated in her chest, and they shook hands all in good natured competition.

The rest of the crew agreed whole-heartedly, and the bets were collected. Garrus was preening in a self-satisfied manner as all the credits found his way into his pocket. He'd been the only one to bet on her to win. Jack asked him.

"How the fuck you know she'd do it?"

Garrus just gave a smug look saying, "You didn't see her wailing on the scientist. I knew she had some power behind her."

Rea grinned at him, and enjoyed the glow of her victory. She was slowly feeling more comfortable with everyone around her and while she still felt garishly out of place and missed her family, she felt that as long as she was on the Normandy, things wouldn't be quite so bad.


	6. Friendly Fire

Joker had conned her into one more match, for 'posterity's sake'. Audrea wasn't sure if he even knew what posterity was, but she didn't see any harm in it. She was winded from the previous two bouts, but she just needed a little break to catch her breath. There were people huddled in little groups all around, discussing how they were going to place their bets. While she had made Garrus a small fortune against Grunt, there were a few people that weren't going to make that mistake again.

Rea sipped on the bottle of water she'd been given slowly, and eyed her new opponent carefully.

The entire group wanted to see her fight the reigning champion. Well, co-champion. Garrus and Commander Shepard were almost even on the win to loss ratio. So there she sat, sizing him up. He was taller than her by a half a foot, at least, and had the arms of an orangutan. His chest was bulky, suggesting lungs larger than hers. He wasn't going to tire easily. Rea assessed the natural plating he had over his body. It was thick, and she wondered how much force it would absorb from her hits. She probably shouldn't take the chance. He had parts that weren't armored, and she could tell the skin was thin around the joints, and the neck. She didn't know how fast he would be, though. Yes, he was tall and his chest was large, but his limbs were lean.

_I'll just have to go with it and see what happens._

She thought to herself as she stretched her cooling muscles out. Joker announced on last time tacking several titles onto Garrus, calling him the Turian Typhoon, with a face so scary he could stop gunship rockets with it. She didn't understand the reference, but the rest of the crew got a good laugh at it.

Soon after, the match started and Audrea and Garrus were circling each other. They danced around each other and traded a few test blows. Rea could tell Garrus was being kind. He had just watched her in the last two rounds, and knew some of her moves. This was all so she could see some of his. Rea smiled wickedly at the turian, hoping to psych him a little and knowing that if he was too kind he' d underestimate what she could do, and lose.

Rea launched herself into a quick succession of hits, ducking under his arm as he tried to reach her. She used this movement to come up under his reach and grab his arm with her left, and landed a few blows under his armpit. Garrus grunted in surprise, and Rea dropped his arm, backing off quickly before his other could grab her.

She misjudged though, and the turian had her by the shoulder, drawing her closer and tossed her a few punches to the ribs. His strange hand may be shaped different from a human, but on contact to the rib cage, it felt exactly the same. Rea took the punches, and used the opportunity to try and hook her heel around his leg. She rushed forward to throw him to the ground, but he anticipated her movements, and as the two of them fell to the mats Garrus was easily able to flip her over him and came out on top.

Rea used her forearms to protect her face as his punches landed, and desperately searched for a way out. She used a series of moves to try and grapple with Garrus, but he was easily able to counter, blocking elbows and knees. She tried locking her legs around his waist, so she could flip him, but all she succeeded in doing was flipping herself around so she was on her stomach with one arm pinned under her, and the other Garrus had in a lock, behind her back keeping the pressure on her shoulder. He had one knee down on the mat to her left side, with a majority of his weight on it. The other leg was on her right, with his foot flush against the mat. He leaned down, keeping her prone, and chuckled into her ear.

"I've always said that strength and reach beats speed and flexibility. It's good to know it holds true…well with everyone except Shepard."

She'd always enjoyed a good competition, and generally could take a loss well, but every once and awhile the sore looser would rear its ugly head. When this happened she'd get pissed, adding a little extra fuel to her fight. Usually it only happened when she was fighting her brother. Finn had always called her 'She-Hulk' when she got angry during their fights. It was as if the very memory of her brother and their fights fueled her anger. Rea gave one last ditch effort. She ignored the pain from her shoulder and arced her body back, using what she could of her trapped arm for leverage. The back of her cranium smashed into Garrus's face, and he grunted in surprise, letting go of her locked arm. She used the opportunity to flip around, and dislodge him from his position on top of her.

With anger still reigning Audrea twisted, throwing a left hook with all her strength. As her fist arced toward his face she was surprised when a blue glow surrounded the curve of her fist. How the hell did she make that happen? Blue energy connected with the turians face, and her anger immediately dissipated as Garrus flew away from her a few feet. Much further than her natural punch could have done.

There were gasps, and a few sympathetic groans for Garrus. Joker called out.

"Hey Rea, I said no biotics."

"I'm sorry! I don't even know how I made that happen."

Joker sighed, shaking his head and scratched his beard thoughtfully.

"Well, you broke that hold of his and were already throwing the punch so we'll count you the winner anyway. That's what he gets for talking shit."

Rea scrambled over to Garrus, who was laying on his back, his left hand pressed against his face where she'd struck him.

"Yeah, I've been told I have a big mouth." He hummed painfully. "I think you knocked my cybernetics in my eye askew; my vision's all fuzzy."

"Let's get you to Chakwas big guy." Kelly Chambers helped Garrus up and out of the room, tossing a dirty look Audrea's way as they made their way to the med-bay.

_**Break**_

Audrea hovered anxiously by the med-bay door, trying to decide between going in and running off, but as the doors swooshed open automatically for her, she knew the decision had already been made.

Garrus sat on a table, talons loose and relaxed on his lap as Chakwas stood over him, tools in hand. The doctor was chewing his ass, throwing insults out liberally as she made the adjustments to his eye. Most of it were in low, angry tones, so ally Rea could make of it was that she had told him a thousand times not to participate in any unnecessary sparing matches until his cybernetics had fully intergrated.

The turian's piercing blue, raptor eyes swung towards her as she walked into the room, and Audrea swallowed nervously. Garrus had been one of the kindest to her since she'd been aboard the Normandy, and had been patient with her curious stares, answering random questions about his race. She liked to think that they were starting to develop a friendship and she hoped that this inadvertent cheap shot wasn't going to hurt his pride.

He smiled in his strange fashion at her, lip plates bending upwards slight, and mandibles partially flared.

"Hey, there you are. " He stated obviously "I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" Rea lowered her eyebrow in confusion.

"Mhmm, I made an atrocious amount of credits today thanks to you. Most of it was off the fight with you and Grunt, but I did make a handsome amount off of ours as well."

"Wait..what? Are you saying you bet against yourself? You bet that you would lose?"

"I didn't bet that I would lose, I bet that you would win. And I only do it to soften the blow to my pride in case someone beats me."

"I can't believe Joker lets you bet. Wouldn't someone be afraid you'd throw the fight?"

Garrus huffed indignantly.

"Turians don't 'throw fights'. It's a crime against honor. Besides, I always bet the same way on my fights, though it's usually only bet against myself when I'm sparring with Shepard, and I always bet on Shepard to win."

"And here I was coming to apologize to you."

"Well, I accept your apology. You do keep giving me a bloody nose." He pointed with a talon to the trickle of blue that was leaking out of his nostril from where the back of her head had slammed into his face.

Audrea grimaced in relief, and was glad that he wasn't holding a grudge. Soon he was off the table, and they were walking out of the med-bay together, talking shop over the various moves they'd used against each other. As they walked out, Rea saw Samara and Thane walking up. Both had serious looks on their faces, but they were both generally somber individuals.

"After your display in the cargo-bay, we've decided to offer you our assistance." The drell toned out in the hum that was similar to Garrus's, though with a harsher, more static tone.

"Biotic abilities are difficult to master, and children of all races start from a young age, to be able to gain the control they need. You are obviously not a child, but no less of a danger for it." Samara stated matter-of-factly. "I think with Thane's meditation techniques and my hundreds of years of experience, we should be able to give you a measure of control so you're not a threat to yourself or others. It will by no means be mastery, but we'll be a start."

Audrea was grateful for the offer. She knew the basics of what Cerberus had done to her, and that when the ground team had found her, she had created a mass effect field to protect herself. She didn't, however, remember doing it and the biotic punch to Garrus had been the first she had seen of her newly acquired powers. To think that she could kill someone accidently, or create a hull breach because she didn't have control, frightened her.

As she walked away from the med-bay, and Garrus, with her new tutors she looked back for a moment. Shepard was leaning, elbow propped against the counter, sipping on a cup of coffee. She was studying Audrea thoughtfully, and while she couldn't say there was malice in her look, there wasn't any friendliness either.

_**A/N Poor Garrus, always getting a bloody nose.**_

_**I'm still looking for a Beta if anyone knows a good one.**_

_**And, as always, please reveiw! Tell me the parts you like, any phrases that caught your eye. Even better tell me the parts you didn't like, or didn't hold true to character. I'm always looking for improvement.**_


	7. A Gift

_**A/N I wanted to mention a few things, since they'd been brought up.=) We have a saying in my family "We only make fun of you because we love you." and that's part of the attitude I brought to some of the relationships in this story. There are a few people who aren't going to like Audrea, but some of the hostility is just a good razzing. Also, yes there is going to be some romance, but it's something I want to develop with the rest of the plot line.**_

_**Also I want to clarify that Audrea isn't going to be some god like biotic martial bad ass. You'll see which way it goes. And Garrus would have totally won the fight in the last chapter if not for the cheap shot=)**_

Audrea stayed busy for the next few weeks. She alternated her days between meditating with Samara and Thane, and learning the advancements in medical science with Dr. Chakwas. A lot could change in 160 years, and some of the things that Rea had learned as fact in medical school were complete myth. She was fascinated by the many things mankind had discovered about the brain. Things, like curing Ahlzheimer's and Parkinson's. There were many more things that were still a mystery and questions that had been solved, but their solution only broached three more questions. Audrea ideally wondered if man would ever reach their limits, or if the many flaws her race held were compensated by the fact that they would always find room for betterment.

It didn't take long to catch up on the human side of medicine, and as soon as she was finished she dove into the physiology of the other species. Life beyond Earth was something she had wondered about, even as a child. She could remember sitting with her parents staring up at the stars, imagining fantastic places and people. There were moments she felt like her present life had been plucked straight from her childhood dreams.

Rea started with the quarians. Their situation with their negligible immune systems intrigued her. In her own time pathogens had developed frightening resistances to medication. It started with the very first, penicillin, and with each new antibiotic discovered there soon followed a stronger version of the disease it was trying to cure.

Krogan seemed just crazy with their multiple organs. Rea wondered about transplant options from krogan donor, and then laughed as she thought about approaching Grunt with that request. She filed that little nugget away for a rainy day.

She went through all the species on the Normandy first, and then beyond to the dozens that called the universe their home. Each was unique, and it amazed her how life had found a way in so many different ways. Even they had beliefs in a higher being, and it made Audrea truly appreciate it all.

Rea admired how much Dr. Chakwas knew on the various species. They were all so different in many important ways, from cellular respiration to fetal development. Eggs! Some actually produced by laying eggs. She started as she did in medical school, they basics so at least she wouldn't kill anyone by lack of knowledge, like she almost had with herself and the dextro food. It would take her years to truly learn everything and Audrea appreciated, not for the first time, her talent for absorbing knowledge.

When she wasn't with Dr. Chakwas she was with either Samara or Thane, sometimes both together. Rea grew to admire Samara. She was single minded and certain of everything she did. She was absolute in her code, and severe, but not unkind. Thane was intriguing with his mystery, and she smiled the day she realized that his suaveness reminded her of the Bond flicks she use to watch.

It took several weeks, but after endless hours of meditation she was able to make the beginning sparks of biotic fields. There was little she was actually able to do, but she could recognize how to control it, and wouldn't accidently break anyone else's face.

The calmness of the meditations helped with some of the amnesia she was suffering. She now remembered going through the crevice in the wall of the back of the cave, and the strange smooth room. She remembered the odd pillar and the strange blue light and indecipherable runes, and the pictures she took of it with her camera. Rea wondered what happened to her bag with all her equipment, and that camera. When she remembered the latest she went to Shepard and told her what she knew. The commander listened patiently, jotting a few things down as they went. She asked a variety of questions about the pillar, Rea not knowing many of them tied in with Shepard's own encounters with the prothean becons. When her questions had been exhausted, Rea left the commander, hoping that the bit she'd provided could help.

Her sleep was still broken by the strange dreams. She was starting to recognize a few of the places that were popping up in them, and sometimes people from the Normandy would make appearances. Shepard showed up periodically but the vivid dreams didn't make any sense. Rea tried to ignore them.

While she was busy with her nuances of her new life, the Normandy worked its way about the galaxy. Shepard was constantly busy, working her ass off to get things ready. She always had time to help her crew, though. If there was anything they needed she'd find a way to make it work. They went to dozens of planets, and with each stop Audrea would stare out the observation window at the strange surface below. Rea was content just staring. She was beginning to enjoy the feel of the Normandy and the self-efficient camaraderie, and as much as she wanted to see alien planets, she had no desire to leave the ship.

_**BREAK**_

They were working their way back to the Citadel, one evening, when EDI brought some information to Shepard's attention.

"Commander, I was doing some logarithmic equations of significant dates for crew members in my 'spare time' when I came across something I thought should be brought to your attention."

Shepard blinked. _Logarithmic equations and spare time don't mix. _She thought to herself.

"Yes EDI?"

"We were concerned with the fact that Audrea was here, so we neglected the fact when she was here."

"Umm, you're going to have to explain that one."

"I mean Audrea's timeline Commander. She came from her time in August of 2025. She was released from the Truban camps in your January of that same year. To us this may have happened decades ago, but to her this happened less than a year ago."

"I didn't even consider that. It's amazing that she's holding up as well as she is."

"That is something else, Commander. Both the Doctor, Professor and I thought it wise to monitor her brainwaves, due to the strange ones that were discovered when she was first brought on board."

"And?"

"Her patterns remain consistently strange. I will 'dumb it down' as you've requested of me with medical speak before."

"Thanks." Shepard said blandly, EDI continued unphased.

"There are certain levels that are high at all time, abnormal from regular human waves. There are also wave that are only active during Audrea's sleep cycle. I've monitored her vital signs during these periods and they suggest stress. I believe they are what you call 'nightmares'. It's very likely she's suffering psychologically from the extensive amount she's been through this last year."

"Thank you EDI, I'll keep an eye on the situation."

Shepard sat at her desk for a moment, and pondered their stray. She was very personable, and most of the crew seemed to genuinely like her. Audrea was a soldier though, she could tell simply from the way she seemed comfortable in the day to day life of military operation. There was often a dullness that was attached to ship life and Audrea had stepped into it easily. It also didn't hurt to have another physician aboard. You never knew when you'd need several pairs of capable hands.

Shepard's musings were broken up by a beep from her console. There was a new message. She opened it and smiled when she saw it was from Liara. She glanced over to the picture she kept on her desk, the blue face held a small, cryptic smile. She missed the asari greatly, and couldn't wait until she saw her again, but Liara was busy with all that being the Shadow Broker entailed. She always found time for Shepard's requests. Any information she ever needed, Liara was able to find it. Sometimes it would take a while, but she never failed.

She opened the mail.

_Shepard,_

_ I've looked into the matter you wished and I've found it intriguing. The copies of the images you sent were fascinating. The blue script at first looked prothean but the more I studied it the further away I went from that assessment. I won't bore you with the details but I believe that this is a precursor to their language and the protheans developed their own language from whatever species left this. The descriptions of the object she encountered, while similar, hold key differences to your own with the beacons. I do not have translations yet, but I'll forward it to you if I ever work it out. Don't expect it any time soon though, it's vastly complicated._

_ In the other matter, I've dug up some information. It isn't digitalized information so I've sent it to the usual location to pick up at your convenience. I've attached a letter to it to explain further._

_ May the Goddess always smile on you._

_With Great Love,_

_L_

Shepard smiled warmly. Liara was always careful with her messages, never revealing any unnecessary information. Her new life made her paranoid, not that Shepard blamed her. She always wrote it the strange matter of fact way she spoke, and the commander could almost hear her voice in the words.

Liara had left a package with one of her flunkies at the Citadel, one Shepard hoped would answer more questions.

_**BREAK**_

The night before they arrived on the Citadel, Rea had a dream about their destination. She could see the long arms of the station extending into space, brightly lit, and flashes of the presidium she was about to see for the first time. She went through her dream different then she had before. Generally they were flashes of images, but this time they were cut segments, like short scenes from a movie and some of them involved her.

She was in an office with Shepard, being handed something. She was wandering about the Citadel. There was an old man who was grizzled and thanking her, her being held against a counter top, and Garrus talking adamantly to Shepard. There was Thane pushing her into a dark corner, and a flash of gun fire and a turian with white marking standing starkly against his face. It didn't seem to be in any particular order and when Rea awoke she was left with a strange, heavy feeling in her stomach.

They arrived at the Citadel and most of the crew departed, some on shore leave and some set about various tasks. Shepard had asked Rea to accompany her, and they made their way from the docks. Garrus and Shepard walked together, talking amiably, and Thane walked with her, both following the commander to their destination. The drell walked in silence, both in step and words. It would have been disconcerting if Rea hadn't already been accustomed with it from their meditations. She was comfortable with the mutual silence, and took pleasure in the simple act of a stroll with a friend and allowed herself to gawk at the magnitude of the Citadel.

"It's amazing isn't it?"

Audrea turned to the drell, surprised that he had broken the silence.

"I've never seen anything like it. This place is huge. It's like the shadows have their own shadows."

Thane smiled at that and chuckled slightly.

"Yes, I've always found that aspect handy."

They arrived at the office and the four of them walked inside. There was a volus at the desk, hissing steadily through his respirator.

"Commander Shepard, the broker said you'd be arriving for this."

He pulled a small crate from under his desk and slid it across the top.

"I was directed to give you this as well."

He handed her a small envelope and Shepard opened it, smiling as she read. She tucked the note into her pocket and turned to Audrea.

"These are for you. I pulled some strings and found something that you might appreciate. They're your daughter's diaries. The current resident of your family manor still had them in the attic, and with a little bribery she parted with them. She almost didn't let them go, saying they'd provided her with inspiration as a young woman, but credits made her change her mind."

Audrea was stunned. She opened the crate and stared inside. There were almost two dozen books inside, ranging from sophisticated leather bound notebook to child's diary with flowers and butterflies printed on the cover. That one was the book Rea had bought for Sofia when she'd been released from the hospital after Turpan. She opened the cover and looked at the note she had inscribed in the front.

_Sofia, many things happen in life. Some are beautiful and some are scary, but all those things make us who we are. This is so you can keep track of all those things, and never forget. Fide et virtute. Love, Mom._

A lump formed in Rea's throat, remembering the day she wrote that in the book, accompanied with the motto both she and Finn had grown up with. She had bought one for her son as well, but Sofia had been the only one to show interest.

She placed the journal back in the crate and closed it. She knew reading these would be emotional and she had no desire to open those in the middle of the Citadel.

"I'll have these delivered to the Normandy." The volus hissed.

Shepard nodded, and the group walked out of the office. With their departure, Garrus's omni-tool beeped, and he looked and the message that popped up. Rea watched as the turians face changed from his general smug look to one that was severe and predatory.

"Shepard, can I talk to you?"

The two of them walked a short way out of hearing distance, and Rea watched. Garrus was speaking forcefully and the commander stood there, her arms crossed and attentive. After a minute of Garrus talking, she nodded and walked back over.

"Something's come up, Thane, come with us. Audrea, you can walk around the Citadel more if you'd like, or go back to the ship if you wish. If you get lost the VI can help or there's a map on your omni-tool. I have uploaded a tracker to it as well…just in case."

Audrea nodded, and just like that the three of them were gone, and she was alone.

It felt strange. While a lot of her time on the Normandy could be solitary, or with just one other person, she never really felt like she was alone. Now she was standing here on the Citadel with millions of individuals and it was the first time since she awoke that the felt truly on her own.

She was also left with a strange feeling of déjà vu. The office had looked vaguely like the one from her dreams and the look on Garrus's face had also struck a cord.

So she wandered about the presidium for a time, sat down and had a cup of coffee, musing over things. She watched people going about their business, and tried to ignore the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. After a while she decided that she would go back to the ship.

Rea took a different way back to the docks, following her map. She took a wrong turn down a walkway, and it turned into a dead end, with a shop taking up the space. She was about to turn around, but she saw the word 'antiques' scrawled across the sign. The thought of space antiques amused her and she walked through the door to satisfy her own curiosity.

The shop was cluttered and immediately Rea felt the similarities between this and the antique shops in her own time. There was always a feel, and a smell of history in these type of places. There was a man behind the counter partially obscured by a book. He welcomed her and went back to his reading, letting her wander about the store at whim. Some of the things she saw amused her. Tech that had been cutting edge in her day were dusty and novelty items. There were more items that she had no clue about, and some she didn't want to know. After a time she saw an old guitar hiding in a corner. She picked up the long neck and examined it. The instrument was a little worn, a few nicks here and there, and the varnish was chipped from use, but it was in really good condition. It had all its steel strings, and Rea plucked at them carefully, tuning them as she went. Her mother had taught her to play, as she had taught Rea many things. Variety was the spice of her mother's life. She always said that unless you were learning and improving yourself you risked going stagnant and dull. She'd been a true renaissance woman.

Soon Rea had the guitar tuned, and strummed out a few familiar songs, enjoying the vibration underneath her hands. As one ended the man behind the counter spoke.

"You don't see many of those old things anymore. The electronic version nearly wiped them out of existence and even those aren't so popular anymore. They call it progress, but I just call it noise."

Rea looked up at the shop keeper, and blinked in surprise as she saw it was the grizzled old man from her dream smiling at her.

"You play beautifully."

"Thank you, it's just one of the many things I learned from my mother."

The man was about to say something else when someone else walked into the store. The shop keeper's face darkened as a human and a turian entered. It was the same turian, just like the old man. Alarm bells were going off in Rea's head.

"I already told you two that I have no idea what you're talking about, and there's no way that I'm going to pay you for protection. If you come in again I'm going to have to turn you into C-Sec."

"Now now old timer, there's no reason to be like this. All we're concerned about is your safety."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want anybody coming in here and wrecking the nice place you gots." The turian thug smashed an item against the wall for effect.

The human vaulted over the counter grabbing the old man by the hair, forcing his head back. Neither had seen her yet, but the old man had been looking at her with eyes that showed concern. He didn't want her to get hurt in this. His eyes were telling her to go hide. Rea wasn't one to run from anything though, and even though she knew she was going to pay for it, she stood up from the sitting position she was in.

"Hey you fucks, is this how you get your kicks? Picking on poor old shop keepers."

The turian whirled toward her, and she could see the anger flash across his face, mandibles fluttering erratically. In a few quick steps he was to her, looming over her menacingly.

"Well, what have we got here." He stated, leering at her.

Rea stared blandly back at him, carefully setting the guitar down. She didn't want to damage the beautiful piece in what was about to happen. The turian thug was very close, and obviously didn't see her as a threat. His mistake.

Read unleashed a series of punches to his face, making him yowl in protest. She would have continued to beat his ass, but the deadly voice of the human stopped her.

"There now girly, if you're so concerned about this old man, I suggest you stop wailing on my partner." The human waved the pistol in his hand, showing his threat before pushing it to the old man's head.

Rea stopped her attack, uncertain how to continue. She'd never had to deal with protecting someone before, at least not someone that didn't already have a gun and could already protect themselves. A moment after she stopped her attack the turian had ahold of her. He grabbed Rea, slamming her against the counter, her arm twisted painfully behind her back.

"Well you're kind of a pretty one aren't you? I've always enjoyed taking the fight out of the pretty ones, especially those with so much fight in them."

He was leaning over her, his breath hot on her cheek and talon trailing down her face, and for a moment she was back in Turpan in a very similar situation, and it was Xiang Cho's stinking breath promising the painful things to come.

Rea forced her eyes open. Her face was turned toward the door, and she thought that she saw it swinging closed, but there was no one there. She was trying to concentrate to induce a biotic field, but failed. Even if she had it wouldn't solve the problem of the old man with a gun to his head.

"Hey, I know all humans look the same, but doesn't this one look like the picture the boss was sending around the other week?"

The human grunted at his turian partner and leaned closer to look.

"Yeah, I think you're right. She has the same scar on her cheek as the picture. Well girly aren't you a shiny fortune that landed in our laps."

They were both laughing at their discovery, when suddenly there was a hole in the human thugs head and the weight that was crushing her to the counter had disappeared. The old man yelped in surprise at the gun fire.

Rea whirled away from the counter, looking around. The human thug was dead in a pool of his own blood, and the turian was unconscious on the floor.

Thane was standing there, gun lowered to his side, still smoking.

"I came to collect you." He stated plainly. "We need to get out of here, the rest of their gang will be nearby, and apparently someone is looking for you."

The old man thanked them both and gave her the guitar saying that no one had shown any interest in the piece in the years it had been sitting in his shop, and it was the least he could do. Audrea thanked the man, and Thane told him to contact C-Sec as soon as they left. He grabbed Audrea by the hand, and pulled her out the door.

They swiftly walked the length of the corridor, passing a few kiosks along the way. Thane smoothly lift a hat from one as they passed, lowering it casually to his head casting shadows over his green face. He snagged a hooded sweater from another, pausing only momentarily to help Audrea into it, zipping it for her, as her hands were still shaking from the encounter.

The drell kept his head low, directing Rea to do the same and they walked quickly and cautiously. A group of men passed by, all talking anxiously, and when Thane saw them he pushed Audrea against the wall, forcing her into the shadows.

"Relax and go with this."

He leaned his body against her, blocking her from eye sight, and saw the hood had fallen off her head. Long fingers brushed her hair back from her face, behind her ear, and his other hand pulled her hood back up. Thane's body was flush against hers and his hands were running up and down her arms in a gentle caress. Their faces were inches apart, and Rea stared into his black, indecipherable eyes. He was looking at her, but she could tell he was listening to the group. From over his shoulder she saw one of the men look their way, and started toward them. Her eyes flickered back to Thane's, about to warn him, but he'd already pegged the threat.

"Forgive me for my presumption." He whispered softly into her ear. The man grew closer and Thane slid a hand across her throat and cradled the back of her head, his other arm wrapping around her waist, and hand pressed against the small of her back. His full lips pressed against hers, forcing them apart in a seemingly passionate kiss. He was a surprisingly talented kisser, not too hard, not to sloppy. She heard one of the men call out to the one approaching them.

"Leave your fetishes for another day Tom; we don't have time for this. We need to find that bitch before C-sec is onto us."

The man turned away from them and the group was quickly down the corridor, leaving the two apparent love birds alone. Thane broke the kiss, leaving Audrea breathless, and watched the last of them disappear with a sideways look.

"I apologize to you Rea, for taken such liberties. They were looking for a single woman of your description, not a pair of lovers enjoying a tryst in a dark corner of the Citadel. I could have easily dispensed with them, but I prefer not to kill when a little showmanship will do the trick."

Rea was all too aware of his body that was still pressing her against the wall. She cleared her throat as he released her from his embrace.

"You're…it's okay. As far as theatrical moments I've been forced into, I must say that was the most pleasant."

Thane smiled as he chuckled softly.

"You do, however, owe me a drink. I need one after all that."

They walked out of the shadows and Rea wasn't sure if she was more disturbed by the fact she'd enjoyed the impromptu kiss, or by the fact that all the images she had seen in her dreams the night before had made themselves present in her real life.


	8. Catharsis

They walked carefully through the Citadel, and Thane ditched the hat on a rack as they walked by. She wasn't certain since she had gotten turned around, but she almost thought that it was the same kiosk that he had taken it from. Rea kept the hood up at Thane's insistence, he mentioned that C-Sec would onto the second rate gang, but it was still a good idea to keep her head down. She still had the guitar the shop keeper had given her, and she used the strap to sling it across her back, neck pointed down. The drell eyed it curiously for a moment, but was soon back to scanning the people around them.

"How'd you know the group was part of the same gang?"

"I've run into these delinquents before. They have the same tattoo on their necks, a bloody fist of all things."

Thane indulged her insistence on getting a drink, and soon she was deposited on a bar stool in Purgatory. Thane ordered two drinks from the bartender. For a while they sat in amicable silence, Thane sipped his drink sparingly and Audrea took healthy gulps. He would stare at her for a few moments unabashedly before looking off. Her heart was still pounding a little, and sometimes she thought she could still smell that sickly sweet breath burning in her nostrals, making her hands tremble momentarily. She'd set her drink down when that happened, hoping Thane wouldn't see it. Eventually she laid her palms flat against the counter top and closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating on her breathing. She used a technique that he'd taught her weeks ago, long deep breaths in, slow deep breaths out.

"Good." Thane said one simple word as her heart rate leveled out and her breathing returned to its natural state.

Rea laughed ruefully; he had known the whole time that she was just trying to hold it together.

"Why didn't you say anything? You could have had me down and calm in a minute."

"I wanted to see you calm yourself. You did quite well." He took another small sip of his drink. "I saw what happened in the shop. You could have easily avoided notice; they weren't the most observant individuals."

"Yeah, but they were picking on the poor man. I hate punks who think that they can take something just because someone's weaker. If I had known that one dipshit had a gun, I admit that I would have done things a little differently."

"It was brave of you, not many people will intervene for someone they don't even know. That instrument you have, what is it called?" He switched the conversation.

"It's an acoustic guitar."

"It was beautiful."

"Wait, you heard me playing? Why didn't you come in the shop sooner?"

Thane paused before answering.

"You were enjoying yourself, and the music was enjoyable. I didn't want to interrupt. Then the men entered the shop."

"Hmm." Audrea responded non-committedly. She had finished her drink and Thane ordered another for her.

"Why Thane, are you trying to get me drunk?" Rea teased as the bartender sat the next glass down."

"Perhaps, a bit. I was hoping mild intoxication would loosen your tongue, as it is apt to do in humans."

"Mmm, you don't hold back do you? If you would like to ask something, just ask. I don't have anything to hide."

"It is not so much that I'm asking about something you're hiding, I just don't wish to be indelicate."

Audrea's smile dropped slightly, and was uncertain where this was headed.

"The books you received, they were your daughter's?"

Rea heaved a sigh of relief. She hadn't been sure what he was going to ask but there were far worse thing he could have brought up.

"Yeah, Sofia. I have her whole life in that box. From what EDI's dug up, she lived to the ripe old age of 94, and had two children."

"How old was she when you…disappeared?"

"Both of my children were 7, twins."

Thane nodded thoughtfully, and stared off into the distance.

"Do you have any children?"

"A son, Kolyat. He…we are not on speaking terms."

"That's a shame. I'd give anything to be able to talk to my kids one more time. I can't imagine how it must have been for them, having me just vanish. Now I'm here, and they're gone, and my great great grandchildren are somewhere in the universe. "

Thane raised his glass slightly to her. "To our lost children." They clinked the rims of their glasses and both finished their drinks, lapsing back into silence and thoughts of their children. Thane would look at her from time to time with his dark, assessing eyes.

"You're not intimidated by silence in conversation. I find that strange, most humans feel they need to fill the void with noise."

Rea smiled almost bitterly. "I learned many years ago how to keep my own council and then had years to practice it. With someone I trust silence is as much of a comfort, as telling them your deepest darkest secret."

Amusement played at the corners of Thanes mouth.

"There are deep dark secrets then?"

Rea laughed, rubbing the back of her neck as she did.

"A few secrets, but not so deep. As for the dark, well, that's all relative as you know. The biggest secrets about me right now are the ones that even I don't know."

Thane nodded thoughtfully, and Audrea changed the subject.

"When you left with Shepard and Garrus, where'd you guys go?"

"Garrus got a message about a man named Sidonis. He's been looking for him for some time."

"Did you find him?"

"We did, I regret that Garrus wasn't too happy with the outcome."

Thane pointed to a deep corner of the bar, where Garrus sat, head cradled in his talons and several empty glasses scattered across the table.

"Always multi-tasking aren't you?" Rea asked, eyeing the enigma incarnate sitting next to her.

He just smiled cryptically, not offering any more up. Rea slid off her stool and worked her way over to Garrus, drink in hand.

"Perhaps you shouldn't…" Thane started, but Audrea just smiled at him and called back.

"No worries."

As she came closer Garrus sensed her and lifted his head, glaring at nothing in particular. He had a miserable look on his face. He thrummed out in his duel tones as she set her drink on the table.

"Not now Rea, I just want to be left alone."

Rea ignored the dismissal and sat down on the bench, sliding next to him.

"Things didn't go so well, huh?"

Garrus growled to himself over her insistence, but he had learned enough about her personality to know that she could be as stubborn as Shepard when she decided something.

"I've been looking for that bastard for weeks. He's the one that betrayed me on Omega, and got the rest of my men killed. I had him in my scope, and Shepard wouldn't let me shot him. She let him go, and now…" Garrus trailed off, and sighed heavily.

"A man from earth once said 'A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.' You shouldn't chase it Garrus, it doesn't help even if you do get it. It just festers further."

"Don't act like you know anything about what I'm going through." He snapped at her angrily.

Rea sat for a moment, twisting her glass in circles, making the ice clink. She had just been talking to Thane about secrets, and was hoping to not have to think about this any further, but today just seemed to be the day for it."

"So you know I was a prisoner of war, right?"

Garrus looked up in surprise, he wasn't sure what he'd expected her to say, but it certainly wasn't this. He nodded once, sharply and Rea continued.

"It happened right after the Baruun Massacre. Over 20,000 soldiers were killed in a matter of hours, my own platoon included. I was with a small squad when it happened so I was at least spared seeing it happen; we were off scouting an area to the south. We didn't find anything, it was all just rumors. On our way back though, we tried to contact the base, and there was just static. I don't know if we smelled or saw the smoke first, but we were still miles out and we knew something was wrong.

They were waiting for returning troops, and our small convoy was bombarded as we got closer. We abandoned the vehicles and fled into the hills. They picked most of us off easily, but there were a five of us that got away, and found shelter in a cave. Everyone was wounded in some way. I got off lucky with just a bit of shrapnel." Rea pointed at a couple of scars on her arm.

"The others though...well, we were all pretty beat to hell. Phillips had severe burns, and Trevor took a bullet to his leg that nicked his artery. Owens didn't seem bad off, just a few scrapes and bruises, but he'd taken a shot to the gut and died in the middle of the night while he was on watch. Zuno, she was green and in complete shock. I couldn't do anything for them either. All my medical knowledge was useless; all my equipment had been destroyed with the convoy. I didn't even have my rifle, just a pistol and a knife, and a few things I kept in my vest. All I could do was comfort, and try and keep pressure on Trevor's leg, hoping the bleeding would stop. He died shortly before dawn. I didn't know it at the time but Owens already had.

They found us shortly after. They shot Phillips in the head and captured Zuno and me; she didn't even fight. I, on the other hand, fought tooth and nail but it didn't matter. The result was the same and we were transported with the others they'd captured from the main base to the prison camps outside of Turpan." She sighed and pushed a few buttons on her omni-tool, bringing up the images EDI had transferred to her weeks ago. Garrus could see the squalid conditions, small structures that were barely a lean-to, compact dirt that showed the dark spots that could only be blood soaked into the earth. His brows lowered as she filtered through the pictures. Rea closed the pictures, not wanting to look at them further and continued.

"There was a general, Xiang Cho, in command of the camps, and most of the prisoners he kept were the female soldiers. He was…a sick bastard. I was never certain but I believe that even his own side was so disgusted with his tastes that they banished him to that area. It was a remote area of China, but important so a twisted general was perfect for the gig. There were about 300 of us to start, but by the time we were liberated we had dwindled down to 23. My sisters, that's what they were in the end to me, all died for various reasons, exposure, dehydration, disease, all things I could have fixed if I'd the tools to do so. Sometimes he'd kill them outright for the hell of it, when he was done with them.

I was the highest ranking officer there at lieutenant, so I did what I could for them, but that wasn't much. Mostly just empty words of comfort, but sometimes…" Rea trailed off. Garrus hadn't looked away since she started and Thane had made his way over when he saw the turian was listening to Audrea. She was silent for several minutes, trailing her fingers through the condensation on her glass.

"He enjoyed breaking the strong ones, and one thing I am not is weak. Well, he took a particular interest in me; I'm not sure if it was because I wouldn't scream for him or if it was because the rest of the camp looked to me. It took him months, but once he figured out I cared about the rest of the women, he had me. He'd offer extra water and food for the camp, sometimes medicine, if I came to him willingly. God help me, I'd go. He was going to have his way anyway, so at least this way I at least felt like I was helping someone. Now as I look back at it, I'm not sure it did. It was so little, and we were all so messed up.

So I was his pet. When he was feeling particularly driven, he'd keep me chained to the desk in his office. Now, I didn't know what was happening, but I could feel something was different. He didn't see me as a threat anymore and he'd turn his back constantly to me. There were so many times I'd envision choking him with my bare hands, drowning him in his personal bathroom, smashing his head with a rock, but I knew if I tried to kill him the guards would just retaliate on the rest of the prisoners. Our numbers dwindled almost daily, and the day we were liberated there was 49. I remember it so well. I was chained to that spot, as I'd been many times, when I heard the gunfire. When I heard it, I thought they were finally killing all of us, so I acted. He was staring out the window and I grabbed the letter opener on his desk. He liked to sharpen it, one of his twisted tools." She pointed to the long scar on her cheek. "He didn't even sense me come up behind him, so I positioned myself carefully and slit his throat."

Rea took a deep drink, trying to wash down the foul taste in her mouth.

"I watched him die. It was quick and afterwards I just sat and waited for them to come kill me. They never came though, it was Alliance troops that opened his door, and they found me sitting next to the bastard's body. I was given medals for it, and when I was looking through EDI's information I saw I was credited with leading an internal rebellion in the camp. The rest of the women had heard the assault start, and had thought the same thing I had, that we'd be taking our last breathe soon, so they acted as I did. In groups they jumped the guards, but were so weak from months of neglect. Only 23 of us ended up surviving."

Rea turned her eyes toward Garrus. Until then they'd been wandering around the room, searching for something nameless. Her fiery green eyes met his piercing blue ones and she spoke in a passionate tone.

"So I got my revenge, Garrus. I got revenge for the things he did to me, revenge for the rest of the women in the camp, those that survived and those that perished because of his actions. In some sense I also got revenge for the man I loved, the squad I cared for, and the 20,000 men that died the year before. That's a whole lot of revenge, but it didn't make a damn difference. It didn't bring any of them back. It didn't erase any of the memories. It didn't even matter; I would have been rescued whether or not I killed that bastard. All it did was fill me with regret. He deserved much worse than a quick death, and I deserved to not be haunted by the ghost of the man that tortured and raped me. He still follows me. The day you found me, the scientist that I was pounding on, he looked exactly like Xiang Cho. I suppose he could have been a descendant, but when I saw that face, all I could think was that I had woken from a pleasant dream of freedom and he was back to claim me. The ghosts of those you take vengeance on haunt you Garrus. Shepard stopped you because she knows that."

Rea ended her story and rubbed her face with both hands, as if trying to wipe it all from her memory.

"Spirits Rea, I don't even know what to say. I knew you were imprisoned, but all that you went through…"

"Don't say anything Garrus. I don't need sympathy and I don't need words. It's all in the past, 160 years in fact, and well, what doesn't kill you, ya know. I just don't want to see you destroy yourself over something that won't make a difference, not to you or anyone else."

"I'm sorry Rea, I will certainly put some thought on what you said."

She patted his shoulder, comforting herself as much as him.

"Thank you for listening. I haven't been able to tell that to anyone, other than the stupid therapists they made us all see. It's cathartic to tell someone who cares."

Rea slid off the bench and stood. All of the nerves that had been rattled from her encounter with the thugs were reestablished, and a weight she didn't realize she'd been carrying was gone. She quickly left Purgatory, before Garrus could say anything else. Thane followed closely, quiet and pensive.


	9. Apollo Stirs

_**A/N Thank you all for the responses I got on the last chapter!=) Yes it was terrible for Rea, but she's a survivor.**_

_**I did have someone point out a glaring mistake I made in previous chapters, and I'm ashamed I never caught it. With ME2 canon there was no way Kaiden was ever aboard the Normandy.**_

_***facepalm***_

_**I knew this, but I was looking for a good pudwacker for Rea to fight and it didn't click that I biffed it. Sooo, until I get it edited in story, just erase all previous refrences to Kaiden in your brain and replace it with Jacob .**_

_**(exactly why I need a god beta, to beat me up and tell me to not be a dummy!)**_

Her walk back to the Normandy was uneventful. Thane had been thoughtful most of the way, and Rea was content with the silent companionship. While she'd only told a handful of people the whole story, there were plenty of people in her past life that knew she'd been a prisoner of war. After they found out awkward conversation would ensue, but no one ever knew what to say. She didn't blame them though; what do you really say to that. So, she was surprised when Thane spoke, right before they got back to the ship.

"You are very brave Rea. You have, perhaps, heard me call Shepard Siha? Siha is one of the goddess Arashu's warrior angels, but she had others. They filled many aspects of Her work, but there was one that championed where hope was gone. She would give pieces of herself to revive those fallen in battle. Fearless in her determination; ruthless to those that opposed her. Selfless in her mercy, Palo. I think perhaps you are her. What you did for those woman, and then bringing those memories to surface to help Garrus. It is a rare person that would do that. Don't be ashamed of the lengths you go to protect others."

Rea regarded Thane with an amused surprise.

"That's the strangest, yet most comforting thing anyone's ever said about this."

They'd reached the airlock and Thane dipped his head politely towards her and disappeared through the door. Audrea stood lost in thought for a moment, enjoying the unexpected feeling of peace. She moved into the Normandy. Both had been so intent on their conversation, neither noticed the eyes that had followed them back to the ship.

_**Break**_

Rea lay on her bunk and stared at the journals. She was emotionally exhausted from the day, and when she opened the girly front and saw that it started right after her disappearance she knew that it wasn't something she'd be able to handle that evening. She sighed and pulled herself up, leaving the room and decided to work on a different mystery.

She walked into the med-bay. Dr. Chakwas who was talking with Mordin, looked up and smiled as she entered.

"Dr. I was wondering if I could look at results from my brain waves when you found me."

Chakwas smile dropped some but she nodded her agreement and pulled them up on her terminal.

"I can do better than that. They were so unusual; I've had EDI keep an eye on them."

Rea furrowed her eyebrows at this new knowledge and leaned down, looking over the doctor's shoulder.

"Mmm, I was never a neurologist, what's so strange?"

"Well this is a scan of a normal day's activity for you. There's nothing out of the ordinary about them here. These are the scans from the day you were brought on board. You see your delta and theta waves are off the charts. They're so extreme it appears to actually be interfering with the alpha and beta waves, those associated with higher brain functions and normal states of alertness."

"And the delta and theta are those connected with dreaming." Rea mused softly to herself.

"Correct, whatever you're dreaming during those times must be remarkable."

"I don't know about remarkable, but I did have a severe case of déjà vu today. It was a little disconcerting."

"Oh? Could you clarify for me?"

"I'm not sure I can. It was just some faces I'd never seen before, until my dreams, which I saw in person and just, I don't know, promptings."

"It's possible that the extremity of the waves is causing a hallucinatory effect."

"Hallucinations on topic. Must inform, prolonged oral contact with drell species can cause hallucinatory effects. Skin rashes likely. Krios warned us to monitor." Mordin clipped out.

Audrea coughed uncomfortably. That was something she hadn't been expecting.

"Well…umm…that was several hours ago, and it wasn't really 'prolonged'."

"Eezo infused cells act as extra filtration. True of all poisons, alcohol included. Extends time between contact and onset. May experience effects later. "

Rea considered this for a moment. She'd downed several drinks with Thane, and a few more while she was talking to Garrus. She hadn't realized it at the time but she had only felt slightly tipsy, when normally she would have been happily drunk.

"Shit, well thanks for the warning professor."

Mordin smiled at her, he's slanted eyes blinking in amusement.

"Anyway, "Rea continued, "Do you have any idea what's causing my brain waves to spike like this?"

"The professor and I have been working through a string of hypotheses but until we know more about how the element zero got in your cells, I'm afraid that we don't have an answer, yet."

Rea sighed. It was too much to hope that the strange dreams would be answered by simple brain waves. She thanked both Chakwas and Mordin, leaving the med bay with more questions. _Hallucinations? Really? _She mused on this as she retrieved her guitar. The observation deck was empty so she sat and plucked the strings carefully. She was getting used to playing again, her memory didn't always follow, but her fingers hadn't forgotten. After a while she was confident again, and sang along with little bits. Rea never considered herself to be a world class singer but she'd always thought it was better than her playing.

She was lost in her activity and didn't hear the door slide open behind her. Plucking a sour note, she cursed slightly and readjusted the pegs. As she shifted in her seat, Rea sensed someone behind her and turned to see Garrus standing there with a strange look on his face. He looked uncertain, and while Rea was still learning turian facial cues, she thought maybe embarrassed.

"Hey Garrus, what's up?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, I'll go." He turned to leave but Rea called out to him.

"Man, I didn't realize my playing was so bad it would run people off." She was teasing as she said this, but Garrus didn't catch it.

"It's not bad." He exclaimed, hoping he hadn't offended her.

"Well, why are you beating tracks then?"

Both his mandibles were pressed tight against his face, and one twitched periodically.

"I walked in and you were singing."

"Yeah, "Rea confirmed waiting for more explanation, "And?"

"Singing for turians is an intimate thing, used for our families and those closest to use. Sometimes it's for celebration or sacred events. I forgot it's not the same for humans, you just don't hear many soldiers sing. I walked in and thought I was interrupting a...Ahh…private moment."

Rea laughed her low throaty laugh.

"Yeah, I've walked in on a few men in their 'private moments'. It certainly is embarrassing."

Garrus gave her a confused look, and Rea waved it off.

"Never mind, I was just being cheeky. Yeah, human's sing for all sorts of reasons; for joy, for pain, for entertainment. I've always enjoyed the healing aspect to it. Music in general lowers blood pressure and stress. It can even negate pain to a certain extent. I always loved how it was the universal language in my time. Every culture on my planet has some sort of music, and you don't need to understand any of it to enjoy it."

"Turians have many different styles of music; it's just the act of singing that we constrain to those closest to us. The sub harmonics make it personal."

"That has to be interesting. I'd love to hear it sometime."

"Maybe one day I'll show you." He said non-committal.

Rea smiled and set the guitar down, patting the cushion next to her.

"So, you just wandering around catching people in their personal moments or were you looking for someone," She drolled playfully.

"I was looking for you actually. I thought about your story, and what you said and you're right. I saw the look on Sidonas's face and he was miserable. He's going to have to live the rest of his life with what he's done, and that's far worse than any bullet I could shoot at him."

Rea nodded and they both looked out the window for a few minutes, watching the white light of stars streak by.

"How did you get into military life, if you don't mind me asking?" Garrus prompted.

"Well, that one is a funny story. I guess it all started back in boarding school. After the bombing that killed my parents, and many other parents of England's upper-class, the remaining politicians were at a loss to do with the children of the victims. Many of us were orphans, or had relatives that were unable, or unwilling to care for us. Most also inherited a sizeable fortune, and came from long lineages that the government didn't want to forgo, so instead of shipping us off to the normal government homes they creating an orphanage for us with a boarding school basis. It allowed us to grow up in the comfort and standards we'd been used to, and gave them a limited access to our inheritance. Overall it wasn't so bad, they got the best, and we thrived. Much worse things could happen to an orphan, and when I reached adult hood they immediately released my inheritance.

Well, when I was 16, because of my test scores, I was allowed to pursue my medical interests early. I tore through it quickly and was already into my residency by my early twenties. The war started when I was I was 22, the same year I met my husband, David. I thought I was in love, and he was charming and witty. Many people compared me to my mother with her impulsiveness and free spirit. Her and my father was complete opposites but they loved each other unerringly, and their differences made each other better. When I met David, he reminded me of my father so I thought it might be a good thing for me. We married quickly; I should have listened to my brother Finn, he never liked him, said there was something sly and calculating about it.

Well, Finn was right. David came from an old family, but destitute, so he was fortune hunting and looking for a woman to control. I'm not sure why he decided I'd be that woman. I believe some men think that a strong woman is a threat to them and they feel they have to break them. Few go to the extremes Xiang Cho did, but they each have their own manner.

We were arguing one day; he was trying to get me to sign some things over to him, said some bullshit about his husbandly right and my womanly duty, and I realized I didn't know this man at all. He certainly didn't know me if he thought I was going to let him run my life. He got angrier as it went on, said some horrible things, and I just knew that I'd made a terrible mistake with him.

Well I left our home after, fuming over it all and went for a cup of coffee. The TV was on at the shop and I was watching coverage of the beginning of the war. Troops were, of course, dying and medical staff was sorely needed, so I went to a recruitment office and enlisted. It was impulsive, but it solved the problem of getting away from my husband, and this was my war. My parents deaths were a precursor to it all so I felt like I needed to be there.

I was able to transfer the last year of my residency to an alliance base, and they kept me there for a few years. I had found out I was pregnant with the twins a month after I enlisted, so I stationed in friendly areas while the kids grew. I divorced David during this time, but I was stuck with his last name, Cox. It was a bureaucratic mess of getting it changed back to maiden Sephirde, and I was busy with other things. After a few years the war intensified and they recruited me for a special medical corp. Finn took custody of my children when I had to leave. Soldiers were being lost daily to injuries that would easily be fixed by someone trained to do so, but deployment made it so there were whole platoons that didn't have a medic and no access to a base with one. So they created a trained group of combatant surgeons that would deployed with regular squadrons. It was apparently effective, because I stayed with my platoon for four years. I know I saved many lives that wouldn't have been saved if they would have had to even been moved to a mobile hospital."

Garrus eyed her for a moment.

"I think that's the strangest recruitment story I've ever heard."

"Hah, yeah not too many people enlist to get away from controlling husbands. It's going from one pseudo control to one absolute control. The only thing I regret, though, is that my children didn't have me around more."

The two of them talked about military life for a bit longer, and Garrus shyly requested for Rea to sing again. She obliged, strumming out a happy tune singing blithely along. After it was over Garrus excused himself, saying he had some work to finish, and left with a slightly dreamy look.

_**BREAK**_

Mordin had been right when he said the hallucinations could be delayed. Unfortunately, it was delayed until Rea was in deep sleep, keeping company with her odd dreams. When the biochemical reaction finally triggered, it added such intensity to her dreams that she felt like she was awake.

She was walking beside Shepard on a colonialized planet. She thought she heard the name Horizon come from someone's mouth. She saw the ship in the sky, and the single minded creatures sweeping towards them, others collecting humans like cattle. There was the massive beast intent on destroying them and a voice calling for their destruction. She saw the beam activate and the ship retreat, and a face that she'd seen while researching the Normandy's previous crew and missions. Kaiden, he was angry and yelling at Shepard. Then it was over.

Rea woke and stared at the ceiling. She didn't want to think that her dream from the night before was actually telling her anything, and she certainly didn't want to believe in the significance of the one she'd just had. Something nagged at her, warning her it was all important. As much as she wanted to deny that her dreams were telling her something, between the vividness and the strange brainwaves, Rea knew that there was more to it.

Now all she had to do was figure out how to bring it up to the others.


	10. Delphi Discovered

Commander, I believe I've found something that may be of some use." EDI chirped at Shepard.

"Lay it on me." Shepard voiced as she set her cup of coffee down.

"I was analyzing some of the information Liara forwarded to us and I came across something interesting. She tagged a planet in the terminus system, the same galaxy we found Audrea. There appears to be a massive Cerberus base located in the area."

"That's not surprising. They're like a fungus that just keeps cropping up." Shepard sneered disgustedly. She may have been resurrected by the Illusive Man's scientists, and may have unlimited resources thrown at her, but in her heart she would always be Alliance. She had seen too many disturbing things that had come from Cerberus hands, and to many people's lives destroyed for their pursuit of progress. Shepard couldn't wait for the day she would be able to shove it all down his throat.

"The location of the base isn't the interesting part commander. They have named the base Mount Delphi."

"Mount Delphi?" Shepard voiced her surprise.

"Yes, I cross referenced that to human Greek mythos; Cerberus has a penchant for such names. Delphi was located on Mount Pernassus. It was a shrine dedicated to the god Apollo, the god of light, truth, knowledge, medicine, music and prophecy. Delphi was the residence of the Pythia, an oracle that Apollo spoke through."

"I appreciate the history lesson EDI," Shepard had half zoned out when EDI started her text book rambling. "But what am I supposed to be interested in?"

"Shepard, you are not paying attention. Delphi was the home of an oracle. Audrea was titled Project Oracle. I believe there is a correlation between Audrea's project and the Cerberus base Delphi."

The commander frowned at this, considering the implications. Audrea had become part of the crew. Shepard could see how driven she was to catch up on all the nuances of life that had changed, and learn control over the biotics that had been infused into her. Chakwas had commented on numerous occasions what a talented physician she was; Mordin praised her as a competent research assistant. Audrea was excellent at hand to hand and competent with a rifle. Even Samara praised how quickly she was gaining control over her biotics, though most of it seemed to be defensive.

For the longest time Shepard had thought that she might be a spy, but that was just her paranoia. She'd seen the near bestial behavior when they'd rescued her. That wasn't something you could duplicate at will. The more Shepard watched Audrea the more at ease she became with her. The crew all around enjoyed her company. She was easy going, intelligent, honest, and had a general curiosity about everyone on board. Shepard had found her in various conversations with the crew. She'd discovered her down in Jack's hidey hole, natural friends laying out strings of longwinded profanity about Cerberus. Another time she had walked in to speak to Grunt only to find them roaring at each other.

"No! Use your second diaphragm to push it from your core!" Grunt had yelled at Rea as she was coughing through a scratchy throat, protesting that humans only had the one.

Occasionally she'd be down in engineering with Tali, learning the basics of tech that had far outstripped her knowledge, or in with Zaeed tearing apart a rifle.

The strangest thing Shepard thought she had seen was her and Thane sitting in the observation deck staring out the window together. Neither were meditating, she had seen both them and Samara do that plenty to know what it looked like. They had just been silent and still. She had skulked around for a bit to see if they were going to strike a conversation after she'd left, but no such luck. They appeared to just enjoy the silence of each other's company.

It was kind of creepy.

"Joker," Shepard called out over the com. "EDI's about to give you coordinates, set course."

"Right, Commander."

Shepard knew she would do as much as for Audrea as she would for anyone else on her crew. It didn't make Shepard feel any less uneasy about her. Deep in her gut she knew there was something significant about Rea and this entire oracle business didn't bode well. She just hoped it wouldn't come to bite her in the ass.

_**Break**_

Audrea was running experiments with Mordin when Garrus slid into the science lab. They were running experimental combinations with her own DNA to see if there were any benefits they could utilize for other species. The unique eezo infused cells did strange things to everything from her metabolism and brain functions to stamina and skin regeneration.

Mordin was humming to himself cheerfully and occasionally Rea would sing along if she knew the song, though the salarian was continually correcting her lyrics. She'd just laugh and enjoy a whole new version of earth musical theatre.

She looked up as she heard Garrus guffaw at the two of them. There was a beaker in her hand, about to be placed on a burner, and a dropper of some substance the turian didn't even want to guess at.

"Shepard wanted me to let you know that we're on our way to a Cerberus base, Delphi."

"Delphi!" Rea exclaimed, thoughts immediately flying toward ancient history. "Project Oracle…"

Her hands had dropped to her sides, science implements still in her grasp.

"Careful!" Mordin cried, plucking beaker and dropper out of her hands. "Highly volatile, handled improperly could cause explosion, possible hull breech. Results damaged. Rea knows proper handling procedures. "He scolded softly.

"Sorry Mordin, this just took me by surprise."

"Shepard wants you to suit up; you're coming in with us."

Rea quickly started clearing away her work space, leaving Mordin to finish and rushed to put on her armor. The commander had procured her a set when they were on the Citadel, saying that eventually she was going to need it. Eventually had come sooner than Audrea had expected. When she'd clicked the last piece on she was surprised at how light it actually was. She was use to the ancient body armor from her war that weighed a ton. It wasn't as flexible as she would have liked but again, more than what she was accustomed to.

Audrea strode toward the command deck, approaching Shepard's side. The commander nodded toward her, and went back to her leaning position over Joker's seat.

"What do you mean you're not going to be able to keep the Normandy in orbit?"

"Commander, I've detected specialized sensors on the planet's surface. They won't be able to detect us at first, but any prolonged orbiting will trigger alarms." EDI patiently stated.

"Are we able to get the Normandy through the atmosphere?"

"Not a problem commander." Joker said smugly, "I'll just swoop in, and I should be able to land a few clicks from their base. You can take a shuttle from there."

"Do it."

In no time the Normandy was on the dusty ground and the shuttle was racing toward Delphi. As they approached with the setting sun behind them, they soon saw this was going to be more difficult than first anticipated.

Shepard had always been a make it up as she goes tactician, using gut instinct and sheer luck to pull her through, but this wasn't something she could storm with guns blazing.

Garrus whistled low. "They weren't kidding about the Mount part."

Mount Delphi was a large base positioned on top of a massive plateau that rose imperiously into the sky. Anti-aircraft guns and sentry towers circled the outside, pointed in every possible direction.

"I guess they don't want any visitors. Don't take us up; they'll just tear the shuttle apart, set us in the shadows to the south." Shepard instructed.

They stood in the shadows of Mount Delphi, discussing different tactics and dismissing each in turn. Shepard sighed heavily, not seeing any way to make it to the top without getting everyone killed. It was looking like they were going to have to scrap the mission and return to the Normandy.

Shepard turned to Rea, preparing to apologize for the bad luck. She hadn't said anything while they were trying to strategize and the commander was almost annoyed. They were doing this, in part, for her and she couldn't seem to be bothered to suggest anything. Not that it mattered, there wasn't a way up.

Shepard opened her mouth and stopped when she saw the look on Audrea face.

Her dark hair was pulled back from her face, tightly and green eyes gleamed brightly. Her weight was on one leg with hip cocked to the side and her arms were crossed over her chest. She had one had hovering slightly finger pointed absentmindedly, tracing the air in front of her. It was the smirk on her face that stopped Shepard.

"What is it?" She inquired.

"I can do this."

"Do what?"

"I can get up that cliff."

Shepard laughed incredulously at her.

"What, you going to sprout wings and fly up?"

"No, I will use my arms and legs and climb it."

Shepard felt like calling bullshit, but in the few months that Rea had been on board, she had never once claimed to be able to do anything. She either did, or didn't, but never made false claims on her abilities. The serious look on Rea's face showed nothing but confidence.

"You're serious about this." Shepard wasn't sure if that was a question or a statement even as it left her lips.

"I am. I'm a world class climber and have scaled some of the hardest cliffs on Earth. The rock is tough, won't crumble under my hands, and I can see several potential paths up. Of course, I won't really know until I'm on it, but if this gets me some answers it's worth the risk."

Shepard considered this for a moment. It seemed crazy, impossible, but the confidence that rolled off Rea as she made her claim swayed the commander.

"Is there anything you need?"

"There are some items from the Normandy that would make it easier. There are the harnesses used for external ship maintenance that will work, the clips are almost the same as my carabriners. They won't be much use on the climb itself, but I'll be able to tack myself to the rock if I need to rest. And I bought a chalk bag while we were on the Citadel. I'm not sure why I did at the time; I guess I just felt naked not having one. Good thing though. I'll haul a rope up with me and we'll all be able sneak in right under their noses."

"If you're certain."

Rea nodded once, and they shuttle rushed off to the Normandy for her to gather her supplies. In less than twenty minutes it was back in its previous spot, and a good portion of the crew gathered to help with the assault, when she reached the top.

Audrea started stripping off the pieces of her armor, carefully placing them in the shuttle door's opening.

"Wait, you can't go into that base without armor." Tali protested.

"I couldn't possibly climb in this. There's not enough flexibility in it." Rea thought she heard a snicker from the back. "Besides, I'm not going _in_ the base, just to the edge."

She finished shucking the last of her armor and stood in form fitting under armor, thin and flexible, and completely without protection. She stepped into the repurposed harness, and clipped the chalk bag to her side. The rope she tied to the opposite side, planning on letting it trail up behind her. There was no sense carrying all that weight on her person the whole way.

Thane appeared beside her as she approached the cliff.

"This is not necessary Rea. I am also an able climber and can take your place, if you wish it."

She gazed into his unreadable eyes for a moment, and then gave him a brilliant smile.

"No worries Thane. Rock climbing is different than building scaling, and I've had as many years of practice at mine as you have yours. Besides this is my mountain to climb."

Thane bowed to her slightly in concession and Shepard handed her an ear bud so they could communicate. Rea slid it in and walked steadily toward the cliff face.

"Umm…" Audrea hesitated, with her hands on the stone. "Don't worry about me if I start talking to myself. It's just something I do sometimes when I climb."

She gripped the stone tightly and pulled herself upward, ignoring the snort of amusement from an unknown member of the peanut gallery.

Grip, flex, stretch.

In no time her team mates had receded to specks below her, and Audrea was alone on the cliff side with her thoughts and the whistling wind.

_**A/N Originally I had planned to have this, the ascent and the assault all in one chapter but it'll just be to much, so you'll have to wait.;p**_

_**Still looking for a Beta to help me steer away from lameness. I do so hate lameness so someone please give me a heads up if I start going that direction.**_

_**As always R and R=D**_


	11. Ascending Delphi

**_A/N Enjoy everyone! I hope I did the climb justice, it was way more difficult to get it right then I first thought it would be._**

The crew sat below, hidden by the shadows, and watched Audrea disappear into the dark. Minutes stretched into hours, and all they heard was an occasional scrape from above, and a muffled curse through the com units. Garrus would periodically raise his rifle and peer through the scope, tracking her progress. Shepard had her own pair of night vision binoculars that she kept stashed in the shuttle, and they took turns passing them around.

"She's like a ga'damn monkey." Zaeed exclaimed, "Look at that; her foot's up by her bloody ear and her arm look like it's going to pop out of socket any moment."

"I never knew humans could move like that." Garrus murmured thoughtfully, "You can't _all_ do that can you?"

Shepard scoffed lightly.

"No, Rea is exceptionally talented. Many of us are capable of learning such a skill, but as with anything it all comes down to dedication."

Every so often they'd hear Rea muttering breathlessly to herself. Words seemed to be clipped out so they could never really understand what she was saying, but the phrases that would filter through were colorful. Jack mentioned that she'd have to remember a few of them to use at a later date.

"What is she doing?" Miranda drawled.

Shepard swung the binoculars back up to gaze at Audrea.

"Well…she appears to be doing nothing."

"She is resting." Thane hummed out in his deep voice. "Rea has been climbing for over two hours now. She is likely fatigued and the only way you can rest on a climb of that magnitude is to simply hang on."

Shepard eyed Thane thoughtfully.

"I guess you have had a bit of practice at this as well."

"Indeed. I have had to climb to many a perch to execute a contract, though nothing to this scale. Mostly it was buildings with nice ledges you can rest on. Rea did not exaggerate when she said that she was a world class climber. This isn't something anyone lesser could achieve."

Shepard nodded at Thane's answer. She heard Garrus let out a guttural curse, and Tali gasp in horror. She quickly leveled her binoculars to Rea's position and gazed through, just in time to see the climber lose the last bit of her finger hold and fall towards the earth.

_**Break**_

Her fingers clutched the stone tightly, and her toes were wedged carefully in a crack. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, adding to her strength and heightening her senses. Carefully but steadily she scaled the cliff, not once letting the fear of failure creep in. She had sliced her thumb on a sharp edge of the stone and it had bled for a time, leaving smears across the cliff. Occasionally she would stop and reach a hand into her chalk bag, coating fingers and palms with the dry powder, and then mirror the action with her other hand. This would help with the sweat, keeping her hands dry so she wouldn't slip. She had been climbing for two solid hours and even with the extra boost she was starting to get tired.

Rea stopped for a moment to catch her breath. The gear she'd acquired to help the ascent didn't turn out as she hoped. The stone of the cliff was denser than she had anticipated. When she went to pound a hook into the rock wall so she could hang by her harness and rest for a few minutes, she was only able to make a few chips. She was truly stuck with a free climb. Audrea was glad she had chosen the area she did at that moment. There were other areas of the plateau that seemed to have wider cracks, but this particular spot had a nice fold in the stone, creating an angle that she was able to press her back against and let her arms rest.

Rea had been climbing for a little over two hours she did this, letting blood flow back through her arms, and feeling the burn of lactic acid building up. A few minutes resting this way she switched, taking a firm grip on the stone and letting her legs dangle and relax. She was coming to the difficult part of her climb and needed as much strength as she could gather.

From the cliff jutted a portion of rock. It wasn't quite a ninety degree angle but it was close enough that Audrea was anxious about it. This was something she usually wouldn't attempt without the proper gear, but she was determined to find some answers. Fingers wedged into the underbelly of the rock and she inched carefully forward. Thankfully the just was only twenty feet; it was hard holding your entire weight by your fingers and toes. It took her some time but she reached the edge of the rock wedge. She felt blindly with one hand, all her muscles clenched tightly, looking for a hand hold. Rea found one, and successfully found a hold for her other hand. With both hands grasping the rock face, she gingerly let her foot hold go, careful to not let her legs swing.

Hand over hand she crawled over the edge until her body was again, flush against the escarpment. Her feet had a perch again, and she breathed heavily through her mouth. Glad that was over with she lay against the angle that was in her favor this time, and let her muscles rest. She was soon back to it and was back to a vertical angle.

Rea was taking a moment to wipe the sweat off her brow with her hand when the worst happened. Her toes slipped from their perch and she was hanging by only one hand. She clambered to regain her hold, when her hand spasmed and she was free falling down the cliff side.

Desperately her fingers reached out trying to reclaim a hand hold, but to no avail. She ripped a fingernail off in the process, though it barely registered through her fear. At best she'd end up a broken mess and at worst it was a death sentence.

"Catch dammit!" Rea cried to herself franticly

One arm was suddenly jerked and her shoulder felt like it was being dislocated, but her decent had stopped. Rea gasped in relief, and surprise, when she saw what had stopped her. A faint blue glow surrounded her fingers. Her biotics had flared up in response to her desperation and had latched on to the rock face, like a tree frog with suction cup toes. Quickly she gathered herself and regained her position. Experimentally she tried the same biotic effect with her other hand. The blue light flickered obligingly.

Rea smiled broadly to herself. She didn't even have to grasp with her hands anymore.

"Audrea! Come in, are you okay?" Shepard's voice was static through the com, the worry palpable in her speech.

"Yes Commander, I…well, thank god for biotics."

"If you don't feel like you can continue, don't hesitate to come down."

"I'm over half way there Shepard. At this point it's easier to finish. I'll be all right."

Audrea advanced back up the cliff. Her progress was greatly enhanced with what she considered her new biotic safety harness, and after another hour she was hauling her body over the edge of the rock face and onto the blessedly flat plateau.

"I made it Shepard. Just give me a moment to regain my strength and I'll attach the rope to a safe place."

Her muscles ached and quivered from the strain of the climb, her chest heaved trying to get more oxygen. Rea lay flat on the ground for a moment, thanking whatever deity that would listen for letting her get safely to the top. She stared up into the starry sky, and watched her breath come out in puffs, drifting away into the night. It was seeing her exhalations that made Rea notice that the evening was chilly, making her sweat dry quickly.

Audrea stood carefully. It was time to get moving; it wouldn't do to be found by patrol units lying on her back.

The base was defended against a sky born attack. They hadn't done anything for ground born, thinking their height was impervious to anyone from the ground. Cerberus was looking for shuttles and ships, not a lone climber up the rock face, so they didn't even have a wall surrounding the base. Darkness hid her movements and she looked for a good place to attach the rope.

There was a boulder just ten feet from where she had popped up from. Quickly she tied the rope around the stone, triple checking that the knot wouldn't slip.

"Commander, the rope's attached. You guys can start your climb."

She crouched by the boulder for many minutes, waiting on the rest of the crew to crawl over the edge of the cliff. Rea frowned as she looked at the rock. The black rope stood out against the nearly white face; she carefully piled a few empty crates around the boulder to make it less noticeable. She had just finished when she notice a pair of patrolmen closing in. They hadn't noticed her yet, but it was only a matter of time before they spotted her.

"Shepard, how close are you?" She hissed quietly.

"Thane went first, he's probably half way up, and the rest of us are staggered behind."

Audrea growled unhappily and hunkered lower, hoping to avoid detection. The pair of soldiers were closing quickly when she had a terrible thought. If they caught her next to the rope, they'd surely cut the rope, and the only people left in the universe that she gave a damn about would tumble to their deaths.

"Shepard, you need to hurry."

"We're working on it Rea." Shepard clipped out in an annoyed tone.

"There's a couple patrolman closing on my position. I'm going to get their attention and lead them off a ways."

"Belay that Rea. Just keep yourself hidden."

"Negative commander; I don't need to tell you what will happen if they find the rope. Just get your asses up here and then come save me."

"Rea…" Shepard started protesting but Audrea was already moving.

She kept crouched, stepping carefully as she could away from the boulder, and was thankful this planet didn't have a moon, or if it did, that it wasn't out tonight. Only able to make it ten feet away from the boulder, she was saw one of the men lift his arm pointing at her. Rea had moved just in time.

"Halt!" He called out at her, raising his rifle in conjunction. "Get on your knees."

Rea obeyed, as slowly as she could. She needed to draw this out as long as she could. She had no memories from her time at Cerberus, but she had no desire to let them make any. Her mind filtered through what she could do to distract the soldiers, beg, cry, rage, but they all had the edge of quickly getting herself shot. An idea flashed brightly in her mind, and she took off with it, hoping it would work.

"Excuse me sir, have you seen my cat?" Audrea would do her best to confuse the hell out of them. All she had to do was buy a little bit of time.

"What the fuck?" The second soldier demanded, "How the hell did you get up here?"

"Why…I took the elevator of course." Rea smiled as cheerfully as she could.

"Elevator," Number two repeated. "There's no elevator."

Number one had moved behind her, securing her arms behind her back.

"Of course there is young man, but you didn't answer my question. Have you seen my cat? He's a Cheshire you see, and very mischievous, always running off and getting into trouble. Why just last week he got into Ms. Colbert's laundry and drug her white sheets into the creek. Oh, that little rascal."

She couldn't see number one's face but it seemed she had completely baffled number two.

"She stark raving mad." Number two proclaimed.

"I'm not angry, well maybe a little bit at my sweet Mr. Church, but more concerned than angry."

"What's your name?"

"Cleopatra, queen of the Nile, sir. But my friends just call me Cleo."

"Fuckin' loon. Just shoot here and let's call this in." Number one snarled behind her.

Audrea stomach dropped when she heard the words fall out of his mouth. Her heart started racing, she started feeling nauseous.

"I don't think we should shoot her Tom, they might want to question her. Seriously, how did she get up here?"

"Who cares? They're not going to get anything from her, she's insane."

Number one and number two argued for a few minutes about what to do with her, and Audrea tried to look sideways without being noticed. She had at least succeeded in buying some time.

"Fuck this, I'm shooting the bitch." Number one pronounced suddenly.

She could feel the pistol on the back of her head and before she could protest, the shot echoed through the night. Audrea cried out in fear, and couldn't hear anything other than a ringing in her ear. Suddenly she realized she was lying sideways on the ground, heaving on her shoulder. Squeezing her eyes open slowly she saw number two. He was inches from her, eyes glassy from death and a knife stuck in his throat. Hands were grasping her arms, and suddenly her wrists were free. Rea jerked up and twisted around to see number one on the ground, neck twisted in an unnatural angle.

"Are you injured Rea?" Thane's voice anxiously hummed in her ear.

The drell seemed to materialize out of the darkness to her side. She knew he'd been inches from her when he spoke, but Rea hadn't seen him until just then.

"Y-yeah." Rea croaked out.

She stayed cross legged on the ground, not trusting her legs at the moment. Thane had his fingers curled around her upper arms, and the black pools of his eyes were looking fervently into hers.

"Really Thane, I'm fine. I'm just glad you swooped in when you did."

He nodded once, and released her arms, smoothly rising up. He offered her a hand so she could stand and Rea accepted gratefully.

"Cleopatra?" Shepard, followed by the rest of the crew appeared a moment later, an amused look on her face.

"At your service." Rea made a half bow. "I was spewing whatever came to mind out."

"Effective," Mordin praised.

"Yes, I appreciate not being smashed like a bug on the ground." Jack mentioned in an offhand manner.

"Indeed, we need to get moving though. That shot will bring more troops any minute."

Thane handed Audrea number two's pistol, and she smiled greatfully.

"I apologize, Siha. I was unable to stop the shot, only deflect it."

"It's still a better outcome then I'd first thought." Shepard soothed. "Now, let's go get some answers."


	12. The Shrine

**_A/N Thank you all so much for your reviews and pm's I'm glad you're enjoying my little story._**

**_It's a busy chapter, I hope it's not too much o.O I'm diverting from cannon *but well, I have from the beginning._**

**_As always R and R please! Mama like._**

Shepard had watched from the ground, unable to do anything as Audrea made her climb. There had been the heart dropping moment when her fingers had slipped from rock and she was free falling down the mountain. The commander had heard her howl in panicked frustration over the com, and the whole team looked on helplessly; all with the knowledge that they were watching one of their own plummet to her death.

Then the impossible happened.

"Look!" Garrus called out, a strange tone lacing his voice.

Shepard, who had lowered the binoculars, refusing to watch the fall, swung them back up in response. Audrea was clinging one handedly to the wall, blue gravity had stopped her descent.

"Incredible." Someone to her side whispered.

"Interesting," Mordin chattered "Mass effect response to her body, instead of the external world. Much like Samara's floating effect. Highly improbable she could accomplish this without practice. Hmm, flare up in response to certain death? Like shields with first discovery."

"Audrea! Come in, are you okay?" Shepard's called anxiously through the com.

"Yes Commander, I…well, thank god for biotics." Audrea answered, voice trembling.

"If you don't feel like you can continue, don't hesitate to come down."

"I'm over half way there Shepard. At this point it's easier to finish. I'll be all right."

They watched from their extended view as Audrea made her other hand flare blue and she basically flew up the rest of the mountain. As her body disappeared over the edge, there was a collective sigh as the group exhaled.

"I made it Shepard. Just give me a moment to regain my strength and I'll attach the rope to a safe place." Audrea piped over the com, breathlessly.

"Alright everyone, make sure you're all set. We move as soon as she gives us the go." Shepard stated in her no nonsense manner.

A few moments passed, but it wasn't long before Rea's voice alerted them.

"Commander, the rope's attached. You guys can start your climb."

She hadn't even finished speaking when Thane launched himself up the rope, hand over hand. Shepard watched the drell fly up the cliff for a moment before grabbing the rope herself. Several minutes later she heard Audrea hiss over the com.

"Shepard, how close are you?"

"Thane went first, he's probably half way up, and the rest of us are staggered behind."

Hand over hand the group moved up the rope. It was tiring, and more than a few of them wondered how Rea was able to do it with just her hands and feet. It was difficult enough to climb the mountain using the rope.

"Shepard, you need to hurry." Rea's voice held an edge of panic.

"We're working on it Rea." Shepard clipped out in an annoyed tone.

"There's a couple patrolman closing on my position. I'm going to get their attention and lead them off a ways."

"Belay that Rea. Just keep yourself hidden." Shepard ordered, she didn't like the thought of Cerberus getting their hands back on their enigma woman.

"Negative commander; I don't need to tell you what will happen if they find the rope. Just get your asses up here and then come save me." Rea answered, her voice steely resolute.

"Rea…" Shepard started to protest, but she knew that Audrea was correct.

"Alright team, double time. We need to make it to the top before something bad happens."

The group maneuvered their way up the cliff as fast as they were able. There were scuffles and muffled curses from below her, but they were making good time. They had about a quarter of the way left when she heard Audrea's voice babbling.

"Excuse me sir, have you seen my cat?"

It was absurd, and insane, and fairly brilliant.

"What the hell is she doing?" Jack called quietly.

"She's distracting them, giving us time to finish. Hurry." Shepard answered. She couldn't hear the soldiers replies to Rea, but she could only imagine what they were thinking.

"Why…I took the elevator of course."

Shepard snorted to herself, arms continuing to haul herself up.

"Of course there is young man, but you didn't answer my question. Have you seen my cat? He's a Cheshire you see, and very mischievous, always running off and getting into trouble. Why just last week he got into Ms. Colbert's laundry and drug her white sheets into the creek. Oh, that little rascal."

The commander heard someone laugh below her, she thought it was Miranda. Rea's unique tactic was working.

"Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, sir. But my friends just call me Cleo."

A few more minutes passed and they were close to the top. Rea wasn't speaking but Shepard could hear her heavy breathing through the com. She looked up and saw with great relief Thane had made it over the top.

"Fuck this, I'm shooting the bitch." Shepard heard a soldier's voice suddenly over the unit, and a gunshot resounded through the night.

She feared the worst as she crawled over the edge of the cliff, pulling her pistol out, swinging it around until she found her target. About ten feet to the right, Rea was on the ground, tense. Thane was crouched down beside her hands carefully gripping her arms. The two were speaking quietly, but Shepard couldn't hear what was being said. Rea's ear bud must have fallen out. The two soldiers were dead, one with a knife through the throat and the other, neck broken.

Thane was helping Rea off the ground when Shepard stepped forward.

"Cleopatra?" She called in a bemused tone

"At your service." Rea made a stiff half bow. "I was spewing whatever came to mind out."

"Effective," Mordin praised.

"Yes, I appreciate not being smashed like a bug on the ground." Jack mentioned in an offhand manner.

"Indeed, we need to get moving though. That shot will bring more troops any minute."

Thane handed Audrea number two's pistol, and she smiled greatfully.

"I apologize, Siha. I was unable to stop the shot, only deflect it."

"It's still a better outcome then I'd first thought." Shepard soothed. "Now, let's go get some answers."

Shepard ordered the group to spread in groups.

"Alright, move carefully and quietly. Use as much stealth as you can. They shouldn't realize this is a full on assault until a firefight begins. You," Shepard pointed to Rea, "Keep your shields up and stay close. You've taken enough chances today."

Rea nodded without disagreement. They moved over the top of the plateau, swiftly clearing out the troops. Cerberus was completely unprepared for an assault that was already in their base. All their eyes had been trained to the sky. Garrus took out sniper nests quickly; Jack was blasting gun turrets with blasts. In mere moments the top of the base was quiet, the small spats of gunfire had stopped and the only sound was the small hiss of dead bodies still sizzling from incinerary blasts.

Rea stayed glued to Shepard's side during the brief fight, taking opportunistic shots, but mostly keeping her head down. The rest of the group was far more effective than she was at annihilation. She heard Jack cussing to herself after the fight was over, and moved close to see she was clutching her inked shoulder.

Instinct and training took over Rea's actions as she closed in on Jack. The bald woman tried to wave her off but Audrea insisted, pushing her gently down on a crate. Jack had taken a shot to her chest, centimeters below her clavicle. It had pierced all the way through and out the back, and she was dripping a fair amount of blood.

Rea quickly checked her over, looking to make sure there wasn't a bullet still in place, forgetting they didn't use such things anymore. After remembering, she moved on to make sure the shot hadn't clipped Jack's subclavian vein, or shattered a bone. Everything checked out. It was a clean shot that hadn't done any life threatening damage.

"You'll be fine," Rea assured as she doused Jack with a healthy amount of medi-gel. "Just try and not move it too much."

Everyone else had managed without injury, and soon they were moving to an entrance that was half sunk into the ground. Shepard brazenly kicked the door open, and moved to the side in case anyone was on the other side with a shotgun. No one was, and the team flooded through the door spreading out as they went.

There was level after level to Mount Delphi delving deep into the surface, most of it empty. There were a few scientists here and there, heads deep in whatever research they were doing, and completely unaware that they were undergoing an invasion. They incapacitated them as they passed.

"This is going to be easier than we thought." Garrus hummed in appreciation.

"I love it when they roll over belly up." Zaeed barked happily.

"Don't let your guard down yet." Shepard warned, "We still don't know what's below us. This feels a bit too easy."

Level after level they moved, Tali and Mordin scavenging the terminals looking for any information they could glean.

"Shepard, there seems to be a central unit on the lowest level. We should be able to access the majority of the information there." Tali pointed to the virtual map, "There's also a large cavern next to the room. It looks like they were calling it the Shrine."

The commander narrowed her green eyes thoughtfully for a moment.

"All right, let's get down there quickly. I'd like to get in and out before those maniacs decide to set off another silent self-destruct."

There was a hum of agreement in the group and they moved forward, swiftly and efficiently.

_**Break**_

Audrea's heart was in her throat, and she could hear her pulse in her ears. They had cleared out all the levels above them, meeting limited resistance, and they were now standing in a large room, with the server Tali had mentioned. She and Mordin were working precisely, filtering through the information.

"Just upload everything; we'll filter through it when we get back to the Normandy." Shepard ordered briskly."

"Understood." Tali replied.

Rea felt a shroud fall over her, and her actions started to feel wispy. Without even realizing it she was moving toward the door to the chamber Cerberus had named the Shrine.

"Rea?" Someone called out behind her, but she didn't hear them. The voice was drowned out by the thrum that was drumming in her ears.

Somewhere deep in her brain, Rea was calling out to herself, telling her to snap out of it, but her body was unresponsive. Something else was in charge and she was striding toward the doors, like a bullet to its target.

"Rea." The voice came again, this time more urgent, but Audrea was already stepping through the entrance, doors sweeping automatically before her.

Rea blinked as the urgency to make it to the room left her, discomforted by the fact she hadn't any control over herself moments before. She gazed around the cavern, which was almost an exact replica of the one she had found that fateful day on Earth. The ceiling swept upward in a smooth dome, perfect and unnatural in its making, and a single conical pillar rose imperiously from the ground.

"Shepard…" Garrus flanged uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I know, "She replied, unease apparent in her speech. "It's remarkably similar to the prothean beacons.

Rea just stood staring at the pillar, speechless and thoughtless. She remembered the blue light, and the searing pain.

Most of the team had moved into the cavern; only Tali had stayed out to finish uploading the data. Each was gazing around the chamber in amazement. They fanned out around the pillar and when they reached the side opposite of the entrance, each paused to give confused looks.

There was a chunk missing out of the back, and there was a strange sleeping pod in its place. Tubes and wires of unfamiliar materials jutted from the exterior. There looked like there should have been a piece covering the front, but there was nothing of the sort in the chamber.

"So this is the Shrine?" Miranda said dubiously.

"Shepard, this looks likes…" Garrus started, but Shepard was already picking up on his thought.

"Yeah, it looks like the cryogenic pods on Ilos only fused with a beacon." The commander finished. Shepard reached out tentatively to touch the beacon and Rea cried out a warning, trying to grab her wrist to pull it away.

"Don't! That's how…"

Rea had her hand clutched around Shepard's wrist, but was too late to pull it away. Her finger tips brushed the surface of the pillar, and that was enough to trigger it. Much like the prothean beacons, it levitated Shepard off the ground. Spine arced backward, muscles locked tightly, and there was the tumbling cacophony of images that flicked through her brain like a deck of flying cards. And attached to Shepard's wrist was Rea, mirroring the commander's forced stance.

Anxiety spread around the room like wildfire, but not a person dared to touch the pair suspended in front of them. They all waited, poised for action in an absurd picture, then instantly it was over. Shepard spilled to the floor with the breath stolen from her lungs. Audrea was propelled across the room, landing gracelessly on her side and sliding a few feet to the door. The strange runes etched in blue on her skin stood out for the first time since Shepard and Garrus had seen her under the light with in the med-bay. The pillar's runes were blinking, slowly fading out in time with Rea's.

Most of the crew were close to the commander and knelt to see if she was okay. Garrus and Samara took a couple stunted steps toward Rea but they were much further away than the man who stepped through the door.

He was tall and lanky, with black hair that hung limply to his cheekbones vaguely Asian features stark on his face. He wore a fitted black body suit similar to Thane's, only with a Cerberus symbol bold on the front. The most astonishing thing about him was the cybernetic eyes that were stamped across his face. He didn't even bother to try and camouflage them.

He sneered down maliciously at the woman that had been blown practically gift wrapped to his feet. The stranger stated as much as he knelt down.

"Oh look, a present."

He reached down and hauled Audrea to her feet, wrapping his sinewy hands around her slender throat for leverage.

Rea was spent. The long climb had taxed most of her energy, and the adrenaline rush from her self-inflicted capture by the guards had used a good portion of her reserves. She clenched his wrist as he draped her back across torso, trying to take some of the pressure off her trachea. She vainly fluttered an elbow against his side, but there was no power behind it.

"Let her go." Shepard demanded, oscillating unevenly. Mordin held her arm for support.

"Why would I do that? I've been hunting for this bitch for weeks. Now here I find her, with your disgusting crew, ironically at the place where she was first found."

Everyone stood keen to attack, weapons raised, and biotics seething. Shepard had her own pistol raised, wavering slightly, but the man just smirked arrogantly, pulling Audrea tighter and raising the curved, narrow sword to her.

The door stood brazenly open and the whole room could see the partially hidden body of Tali spread prone on the floor. Escape lay wide behind him.

"This has nothing to do with you Shepard. You should just round up your merry bad and scamper off on your mission. This is not your concern."

"She's a part of my crew now and she's leaving with me." Shepard dropped the words in a coldly fierce manner.

"I think not. Farewell Shepard, I'm sure I'll see you again." He started backward through the doors, Rea's legs dangling. She tried to slide her feet between his legs to trip the man but he just laughed and shook her like a rag doll. "Oh don't worry we'll have fun later."

Rea choked ferociously as she was being dragged away. Everyone stepped forward in sync with the man backing away with his prize. The Cerberus prick made it to the exit and turned minusculey to manhandle her out the second door, when his face abruptly became intimate with Thane's fist, who had materialized from the very door he was trying to flee to.

The man was forced to release Audrea to defend himself from the assassin's attack. Rea crumbled limply to the floor, wheezing through her bruised throat. Thane pressed the Cerberus flunky ruthlessly in a swirl of fists and elbows. His opponent blocked effortlessly but had to retreat away from his hostage. Rea scrambled away as soon as her limbs were able, and ran into Samara who helped pull her away to the safety of the pack.

A fluid burst of arms boiled from both the men, attacking and blocking in a display that almost looked practiced with its grace. The rest couldn't fire, for fear of hitting Thane on accident.

It was brief but intense, but in the end the agent had himself positioned close to Tali. Thane made his first noise since entering the room other than the smack of his fists; his throat rumbled deep and angry in its dual tones, resonating loudly in the room.

"Oh I do so love Quarians and their delicate immune systems." The man said poisonously as he lowered his sword and slashed Tali's suit, breaking the intricate surface. The hiss of the suit rupture dropped like a bomb in the silent room.

The drell charged recklessly knocking the man away from Tali but giving him the way out as they disengaged.

"I know when I'm out numbered. You can keep her for now, but we'll collect her soon enough." The agent saw his exposure and bolted for the door, dodging the two swift bullets fired at him from Garrus's rife, and Shepard's pistol. Like a ghost he vanished out the door. Zaeed and Jack rushed out the door in pursuit. Thane kneeled carefully by Tali, unsure of weather to hold her suit closed or keep his hands away.

"Thane, where the hell did you come from? I thought you were with us the entire time."

"I had the sense we were being tailed so I slipped off to see if I could if I could find whose eyes were on us."

Rea was on her feet, unsteady but she stubbornly jerked her way over to Tali and kneeled opposite of Thane. She took a moment to slow her breathing and try and concentrate. It was difficult, but it wasn't the first time she had to pull through exhaustion. By both profession and hobby Audrea chose to pull beyond herself. She was able spark a small shield around all her fingers and pressed it to the gash in Tali's suit that ran the length of her curvy side.

Mordin checked the terminal. "Successful transfer. Tali finished before attack."

"Let's get the fuck out of here." Shepard spit angrily "Did you get those AA guns down?" She swung her eyes to Garrus and Mordin consecutively.

They nodded briskly.

"Affirmative."

Thane lifted Tali up carefully, Rea rising with him as steadily as she could.

"Can you walk like that Rea?"

"Up the elevator and short ways to the shuttle. I think so. I go as long as I can."

Shepard nodded, not questioning Rea's ability further and they worked their way to the elevator. On the way out the door Rea paused, diverted by the randomness of seeing her well used knapsack laying by the exit, apparently still filled with her belongings. Garrus snatched it up at her request they beat tracks up the elevator and out into the open air. The sun was blooming its pre-dawn light, casting an eerie gray blush over the stone and structure. There wasn't a sign of another soul above. The troop of soldiers they had incapacitated on their way in and of the stranger there was no sign. The shuttle hovered at the edge of the cliff, and the team loaded quickly, Thane and Rea hovering over their patient, first and the rest following.

The shuttle sped off to its haven with the crew in a ragged and confused state. They didn't have any immediate answers, and several more questions had sprung from the strange events, but they had to take care of the injured first. The hope of answers was already with EDI for analysis. The first question on both Shepard and Audrea's mind was if Cerberus hadn't altered Rea, who had?


	13. Pythia Revealed

_**A/N Sorry I took so long to post this one. Finals kept me busy, and this chapter wasn't feeling quite right.**_

_**Enjoy, and tell me what you think=)**_

Thane carefully placed Tali on a bed in the med-bay. He tried to keep her neck and head steady, at Rea's direction. Rea released her antiseptic barrier at let Dr. Chakwas get to work. Instinct urged her to jump up and help the doctor, but as her hands moved toward Tali's suit, she saw they were unsteady from exhaustion. She knew her limits and had passed them long before they'd reached the Normandy.

"I'm going to have to remove this part of her suit, so I can clean up the wound." The doctor stated before shooing them all out, not wanting to risk contamination from anyone else.

Audrea shuffled reluctantly out, pausing to grab a few things from their assigned compartments. She snagged Jack before she went running off to her cave and forced her to sit as she dressed the wound properly. Audrea may be too tired to work on a sensitive patient, but she still had enough in her to help someone who was calling her grandmother dirty names while she cleaned the wound. In an efficient manner she had Jack gelled and wrapped, with her arm restricted against her body in a sling to stabilize her shoulder.

Her patient retreated gratefully, and Rea stood there a moment staring through the med-bay windows, watching Chakwas work furiously on Tali. She sighed heavily, as the fatigue started gnawing the rest of her reserves. She was suddenly all too aware of how she felt. Hours' worth of sweat had dried on her body, making it feel almost as sticky as the blood from the Cerberus soldiers that had dried in splatters across her face and arms. Her hair was still damp from the collected perspiration. She was scraped, bruised and bloody.

Rea gave into the overwhelming desire to take a shower and in moments she was standing under the faucet letting the hot liquid slough the blood, dirt and grime from her body. It also helped relaxed her overtaxed muscles that were already beginning to feel sore. She dried her body and dressed, toweling her hair dry as she walked out of the restroom. Thane deftly stepped out of her way when she almost ran into him.

"Waiting on me, or is lurking outside of the women's restroom one of those Drell peculiarities that I haven't found out about yet?" She quipped playfully as Thane handed her back the towel she'd dropped.

The corner of Thane's mouth quirked slightly, and Rea thought she saw his eyes crinkle slightly in amusement.

"I came to make sure you were well, Audrea. That climb was quite a feat, and then the events following were surely taxing."

Rea couldn't see the concern in his face, but her ears picked up a faith rumble in his throat that voiced his concern.

"Thanks but I'm fine." Rea stated, her knees buckling slightly in complete opposition to her statement.

Thane caught her elbow, offering support while she steadied herself.

"And now my legs are making a liar out of me."

"Allow me to assist you." He said as he offered her his arm.

It was a gentlemanly gesture that Rea hadn't seen in years, an entire life time ago. It was easy for her to forget that she came from a wealthy family, where manners were instilled early in life. The last ten years of her life were all learning her craft and soldiering. Social graces were the last thing the military cared about. These strange little reminders always threw her off guard.

She smiled gratefully and thanked him as she threaded her arm with his. She wrapped her hand around his bicep. At first it was just to be polite, but as her legs strove to move her to her quarters, she was glad for Thane's aid.

It wasn't graceful but soon Rea was easing down onto her cot with a relieved sigh. She released his arm, and he turned to leave the room, but as it slid by her fingers she caught his wrist to stop him. Rea could feel the thick tendons of his wrist, pronounced even under his leather.

"Thane…you…" She stopped and furrowed her eyebrows, trying to figure out how to put it to words. "Well, I was never taught the proper way of thanking someone for saving my life. A simple 'thank you' doesn't seem adequate."

"There is no need to thank me Audrea; it was no more than what you did for all of us while we were on the rope. I saw how perilously close they were to discovering our rope, and if you hadn't distracted them they would have surely seen it. Palo you may be, sacrificing pieces of yourself to save others, but you deserve to keep all the parts you are able. I can at least help assure you have a safe body to work in." He replied graciously.

"Not only did you save my life but you also kept him from taking me. He had me and there wasn't a thing I could do." Her fingers reached up to touch her throat and his eyes followed. A dark, angry bruise was already forming as a visual reminder. It was clearly a hand print with fingers wrapped most of the way around her neck, from her cervical vertebra to the pronounced thumb print that nestled under the curve of her jaw. "I…would have rather died then have him take me. So, thank you Thane, for saving me from that horror."

"I am only sorry I wasn't there sooner." His finger reached up and gently traced the thumbprint by her jaw. "I misjudged how closely he was following, and for that you and Tali suffered." Thane droned in a penitent manner.

"That was hardly your fault. The fact you even sensed him in the first place kept him from doing worse."

Thane opened his mouth to protest further as he dropped his hand, but saw Rea's eyebrows raise, settling a stubborn countenance. She wasn't about to listen to any argument that this was any way his fault. The Drell smiled softly in defeat.

"I've had difficult climbs before, but that took far more energy than I'm used to." Rea quickly changed subjects as she reclined against the wall.

"You were using your biotics for the last third of the climb. Such precise control takes an abundance of energy."

"You saw that did you?"

"Yes, it was quite a unique application. I'm surprised you were able to think of it and execute it when you fell."

"I didn't, actually. I was falling, and then suddenly I had caught myself."

Thane frowned slightly at that but didn't comment further. At that moment Audrea's stomach gurgled loudly, demanding attention.

"Speaking of using large amounts of energy, I should get something from the mess." Rea grunted uncomfortably as she started to raise from the bed.

"Please, allow me."

"That would be fabulous thank you. These biotics have done some crazy things to my metabolism."

Thane quickly procured a bowl of a thick stew, and a large glass of water, but by the time he made it back to her quarters Rea had already succumbed to her exhaustion. She lay in deep sleep, wet hair spread out to curl over her pillow, and her arms tucked up by her chin. He set the bowl and glass on her desk for when Rea would wake in the night famished, and draped her blanket over her. Only habit kept him quiet as he left the room and Rea in peace. A thundering herd of Krogan wouldn't have woken her at that moment.

_**Break**_

She slept deep and dreamless for several hours, her body taking it's time to renew itself, but after a time images started to form. Rea jerked herself awake and away from the face, a hybrid of the man at Delphi and Xiang Cho, that had begun to appear. Rea lay still for a moment. She had no desire to return to her dreams, and the now gnawing pain in her stomach warned her that she'd neglected to eat. Her muscles screamed in protest as she rose from her bed, another point for retreating from her dreams. She needed to stretch her limbs, they'd been cold for far too long and now they needed to be loosened a little.

She didn't see the bowl and glass that had been left for her and shuffled out of her room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she walked. The lights were down and it was obviously the night cycle. Taking a quick peek in the med-bay she saw Dr. Chakwas putting a few medications up.

Tali had regained consciousness, and the doctor had patched her up and flooded her system with antibiotics. She had a small infection but with luck she would be fine. She had retired to engineering to finish patching up her suit, and had promised to check in after she had rested.

Chakwas inspected Rea's neck critically for a moment turning her chin from side to side to get the full view of the bruise. The colors had bloomed in a myriad of blues that crept all the way around her neck and part way up her jaw.

"With a bruise that heavy, you're lucky he didn't crush your hyoid."

"He came very close to it. I would be dead if he hadn't wanted to take me with him."

They talked shop for a few minutes. Rea could see the doctor was tired, so she bid her goodnight, and quickly left to raid the fridge. The door was open and there was another late night visitor already occupying the space. Shepard crouched, digging in through the contents, looking up at Rea as she approached. The commander chuckled as she tossed an apple in Audrea's direction.

"We had the same idea it seems."

"Yeah I fell asleep before I could eat, earlier."

Rea put a teapot on to boil, and the two of them munched on a copious amount of food.

"Having my mind blown by the beacons always makes me ravenous for days." The commander confessed.

Rea smiled in agreement.

"I understand. Apparently my biotics has sped my metabolism up to twice its speed, so there are days where I think I'm continuously hungry." Rea took a small sip from her mug. "Speaking of the beacon, what did you see?"

The two of them spent the next hour comparing their visions. Quickly it was apparent that it had been shared, and they'd seen the same thing. Shepard, however, stated that this vision was different than the ones from the prothean beacons. Rea's mind had been flooded with the same images it had been all those years ago on earth.

"It's the same message as the Prothean's. The reapers are coming, but it was from someone else."

"Correct commander," Mordin intersected as he came around the corner, "Compared pillar to beacons found previously. Similar structure, different language. Pillar carbon dated thousands of years before Protheans. Likely Protheans developed their technology from these predecessors. Also writing on pillar matches the runes hidden on Audrea's body. Unable to speculate on meaning, no knowledge of prothean writings."

"It's alright professor, I sent copies to Liara, and hopefully she'll be able to decipher them." Shepard leveled a gaze in Rea's direction, "We've been filtering through the data from Mount Delphi. This is where they found you several years ago, locked in that cryogenic pod attached to the beacon and buried in the mountain. Apparently a mining team uncovered the chamber as they were leveling the mountain."

"They had me for years?" Rea asked, anger rolling underneath the surface of her whisper.

"Yes, they kept you doped up on the drug cocktail the entire time, to 'keep you on a higher plain of consciousness'. Those were the words they used in the report." Shepard said grimly.

"Combination of psychotropics, sedatives and neuro-inhibitors. Would have kept the greater consciousness in deep stasis, and left the subconscious in control. Lethal under normal circumstances, element zero enriched cells prohibited degeneration. Then they recorded your ravings." Mordin inserted helpfully.

"What could they possible gain from having me in that state?" Rea queried.

"Notes suggested plane of higher consciousness they were trying to achieve, was related to precognition." Mordin replied

"Precognition, as in premonitions?" Rea asked, with unease steadily growing.

"Yes."

"Project Oracle…Were they successful? I mean, did they record any instances where, they were true?"

"Yes, the ones they were able to record were all true predictions. A couple of raids by Allience troops to their bases, which they were at the time, inexplicably absent. Also some collector raids on colonies. The first they had recorded, though, was Sovereigns' attack on the Citadel." Shepard listed carefully.

Rea breathed deeply, trying to soothe her rattled nerves, and rubbed her palms against her thighs to brush the dampness that had formed, away.

"Prophecy, how can that be scientifically possible?"

"I may be able to help there commander." EDI trilled helpfully at that moment. The AI proceeded to confuse even Mordin with her explanation of how Audrea's eezo enhanced brain would compute mathematical probabilities and translate those into logarithms. Once EDI started stating mathematical laws Shepard stopped her, asking for an explanation for the non-computers in the room.

"I will use an analogy to help. Imagine the universe as a still pond, and sentient lives are the fish that live in this pond. Now imagine major events as stones that are dropped in this pond. The stone disrupts the surface, creating ripples. The fish below are unaware of the ripples they only see the stone sinking to the bottom. I believe the element zero in Audrea's cells raises awareness to the surface of the pond. What Cerberus was attempting to accomplish with the drug cocktail was to vault Audrea from beneath the pond to a bird's eye view so she could track events with greater accuracy."

Silence descended on the room as the three of them contemplated what EDI had said. Shepard wasn't entirely convinced, but Rea knew that it was true. The dreams she was having rang true.

"Commander, this isn't as incredible as it sounds. Human history is riddled with accounts of men and women that had premonitions; people who avoided disaster because of a feeling. Airlines that people were supposed to be on, but got sick when it was time to board, only to recover a short time later. Plans that changed at the last minute, due to unease, only to avoid a train crash. Even animals have the ability to sense danger."

"But, Audrea hasn't gone into any prophetical ravings as with Cerberus."

"I've…had dreams Commander." Audrea proceeded to tell about the dream she had before they'd set on the Citadel, and the series of dreams that had followed, leading up to the one with Kaiden in it.

"Horizon…are you certain?"

Rea nodded her confirmation.

"Well, at least we'll be able to warn them in time. I can see why Cerberus is desperate to get you back. The ability to predict the future; the chance to change it is invaluable."

They talked for some time, Rea going over every detail she could think of, but soon weariness pulled at both her and Shepard and they retired for the rest of the evening.

An uneasy thought followed Rea down into sleep. She may have the ability to see future events in her dreams, and they may be able to change parts, but what if they changed it to something worse?


	14. Ingenuity

"Commander, the Illusive Man wishes to speak to you."

Shepard grunted discontentedly as Kelly relayed the message. She hated talking to that douche. He was pretentious and evasive and claimed to have the interests of mankind, but she knew there were probably thousands of things he kept secret; their designated seer not the least of them. Shepard knew that his goon had probably made a report by now, and the Illusive Man was probably calling to bitch.

The commander strode into the vid-com room, and started the sequence that brought her employer and his creepy eyes the life.

"Shepard, Kai Leng says you have something that belongs to me."

"Oh I didn't know you were in the business of slavery." Shepard quipped.

"The Oracle is too valuable to be gallivanting around the galaxy unrestricted. She needs proper medication and observation to be truly effective." He spit vehemently.

"You mean she needs to be doped up on lethal drugs, and scrutinized by scientists while she stays in a state of unconsciousness? Do you even know 'The Oracle's' name? Do you know anything about her past, or the hell she's endured only to be thrown into a future where she's had to endure the same? Sorry to disappoint you, but you gave me control of my ship and my crew, and Audrea is part of my crew."

"I know plenty about Ms. Cox, more than you in fact. I'm fully aware of her past, and I even tracked most of her decedents to present day. Sadly, all the ones we knew of were colonists on Freedom's Progress." He didn't seem to be too sad about it. "And who exactly do you think put together your dossiers?"

"Oh, you with all your magnanimous generosity. It still doesn't change the fact that it is _my_ team."

"I may have, put names on a computer, but it was Audrea's visions that lead me to them. Each person on your team is there because they played a part in the Oracle's dreams."

This stunned Shepard, and she paced to cover it up. She'd always wondered how he had come up with such a strange list. They had an eclectic group, and they were all due to Rea's visions?

"Didn't it ever peak your interest how you arrived on Omega to save Garrus, just in time?"

"I knew you knew who Archangel really was." Shepard barked in a satisfied manner. "But I don't care about any of that, she stays with us."

The Illusive man was silent, letting the seconds tick by.

"Fine, Shepard. Have it your way, we were using her talents to enhance yours. But don't think that as soon as you've stopped the collectors, I'm not going to retrieve her. Oh, and you should be interested to know that Kai Leng is the progeny of someone she knew in her own time. Ask her about General Cho some time."

Shepard had already heard the story, and it took a fair amount of her self-control to not pull her pistol and shoot at the image. The prick was just giving her even more reasons why she wouldn't hand Audrea over.

"Now, we need to talk about Horizon."

"I've actually already sent a warning, the colonists should be evacuating."

"Mmm, she had that vision again then. Keep the Oracle safe Shepard. I don't need to tell you what a disaster it would be if the enemy got ahold of her and indoctrinated her."

He cut the connection without further proliferation, and Shepard left the vid-com room loudly vocalizing what a prick he was.

_**Break**_

A few days had passed since Tali had been injured at Delphi, and the small infection she had started with had turned into full blown sepsis. The antibiotics weren't working on whatever nasty microbe that she had picked up from the edge of Kai Leng's sword. Now she lay supinated on a bed in the med-bay, with Dr. Chakwas fussing over her grimly.

"I think we may lose her Shepard." The doctor warned ominously.

"Isn't there anything we can do? I can't lose Tali, I just can't. Not like this."

"There is one last thing we can try, but it may or may not work. I don't believe it's ever been attempted before, but it would be ground breaking if she's successful."

"She?"

"Yes, Audrea came to me with the solution when she learned Tali's condition was degrading."

Shepard turned to the dark haired woman who was perched on a stool by Tali's bed. Her green eyes were half hooded in contemplation as she gazed at the Quarian.

"Rea?" Shepard prompted, when Audrea didn't offer her explination.

"Oh, yes, well…Tali's body is obviously not working to fight off the infection, so I'm going to be her immune system for her."

"Come again?" Shepard asked.

"Humans produce different kinds of lymphocytes to battle all the nasty bugs we pick up. Basically there are two main subgroups, which work together to both kill infection and to build a 'memory' so it is attacked sooner the next time the body sees it. Quarians lack one of the subgroups of lymphocytes, which is why they're more susceptible. Tali's body is failing right now, her system can't keep up, so I'd like to use my biotics to filter the antigens out."

Shepard stared at her, not believing she was serious. She looked at Chakwas with the question apparent on her face.

"You can't be serious."

"This may be her only chance Commander. Septic shock will set in soon, blood flow is already showing signs of slowing, soon it will be a toss-up of what happens first, renal failure, cardiac arrest, or respiratory failure." Doctor Chakwas said clinically, but her voice was thick with concern.

"How dangerous is it?"

"Very. I don't think anything like this has ever been tried. It will take extremely fine control, but Rea's biotics could potentially put the electrical system of Tali's heart askew, or a bit of her fields could break off and filter in with her blood, tearing her veins up as her heart pumps. A thousand things could go wrong, but we don't have a choice. If we do nothing, she will die in the next twenty four hours. "

Shepard leveled her gaze on Audrea, who had been silent as Dr. Chakwas pleaded their case.

"You're sure you can do this?"

"No, I'm not. I'm not even sure if it will work, but it's as Chakwas said, we're out of options and Tali is dying."

"Explain to me your plan."

"Well, simply put, we have to clear up the bacteria in her bloodstream first. I'll put up two microscopic fields in her pulmonary artery. The de-oxygenated blood will be heaviest there, and it will be easier to differentiate the erythrocytes from the bacteria. While I have the fields up, the doctor will insert a shunt so I can expunge the microbes from her body as I filter them through the field. I'll use the natural beat of her heart to move the blood through the fields, so basically all I'll have to do is skim her blood, and maintain control of my fields."

"Fine, I don't like using Tali as a guinea pig, but I'm hearing from both of you we don't have a choice."

The two physicians set to preparing for their strange procedure.

"I'll check on you when I get back; I have to take a team down to Horizons surface, they ignored our warning."

Rea looked up at Shepard, a strange look on her face.

"Commander…whatever he says to you, don't take it personally."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"My dreams aren't like watching a movie, Shepard. I just know Kaiden is going to say something that you're not going to like. Just take it with a grain of salt. People act differently when they're taken by surprise. "

Shepard's eyebrows furrowed as her long legs carried her out of the med bay. She compartmentalized her worry for Tali away, and focused on her mission.

In the med bay, Audrea had her own mission to fulfill. Soon they had the room scrubbed as aseptically as they could, and they were cleaned, wrapped and gloved. Chakwas opened Tali's suit around her chest as Rea settled onto a stool next to the bed. She leveled her breathing in partial meditation, and placed her hands near Tali's heart, slightly above. Carefully she raised the biotic fields in the artery. It took careful precision to put the filter in a 3 cm. area, but she was successful, and she took a moment to let her senses adjust to the Quarian's body. Rea breathed steadily until their heart beats were slow and in sync, and then called for Chakwas to insert the shunt.

Everything was working smoothly so far, and Rea allowed herself to get lost in the rhythm of her filtering. Thane had spoken to her before of his battle sleep, and she had understood immediately what he meant. She might not be a furious warrior, but she had waged her own wars on ailing bodies.

Soon Rea was lost in her own battle of healing.

_**Break**_

Shepard was back from Horizon and the Collectors had come and gone, with most of the colonists. A few had headed the warning, so there were a half dozen families that had made it away before the attack. Rea had been correct when she said Kaiden was going to piss her off. She had hoped that seeing her friend after so long would be a joyous reunion, but no such luck.

She made her way back down to the med-bay to check on Tali, and saw Chakwas lingering outside the windows sipping on a glass of water.

"How is she?"

"Well, we haven't killed her yet." Chakwas said tritely "Her vitals are a bit more stable, and her breathing seems easier, but this is taking a long time."

"How's Rea doing?"

"She's deep in it Shepard. She hasn't even spoken in several hours, but someone is going to make her pause to eat something soon. It would be bad for her to collapse on Tali right now."

"This is working then?"

"It seems so, I connected a beaker to the shunt to collect the pathogens she filters out of the body, and she's already removed a half liters worth."

The two stood silent for a moment, staring at the woman that had changed all their lives in such a strange way.

"Shepard, if she's successful, this could mean incredible things for the medical field. Biotic surgery, with completely sterile mass effect blades, and respiratory therapy. The ability to completely lift sickness out of someone's body. This could be life changing for the Quarians alone."

"Why hasn't this occurred to anyone before?"

"It's simple; most biotics find out early in life of their abilities and are trained from a young age to be soldiers, weapons or support. Their profession is basically chosen for them because of their ability. Doctors, surgeons especially spend as much time learning their craft. It's likely there's never been a combination of the two before. Audrea was a fully trained surgeon before she was infused with the eezo. That is the mentality she has, a healer. I think that's why she is having problems forming the attack biotics, she naturally wants to save someone, and not be a weapon."

"There are so many strange things about her."

"Indeed, she a unique combination of many great things humanity has to offer."

Several more hours passed, and at some point each member of the crew would stop and gaze through the window with varying degrees of worry stamped on their faces. Chakwas had Gardner put together a nutritionally rich drink together, complete with a straw. She walked through the med-bay door and tried for some time to get Audrea's attention without making her jerk and harm the patient. Audrea's eyes were gently closed, and it didn't matter how many times Chakwas spoke her name, she didn't respond. The doctor sighed heavily. Then she had an epiphany and smirked to herself as she left the room.

Minutes later she way making her way back in, with Thane in tow. Audrea and he had spent hours upon hours together meditating, so hopefully she would recognize his voice through her self-inflicted stasis.

"Audrea," Thane let his voice rumble gently as he stood by her side.

He had to speak it once more before her eyes opened slowly. They blazed with the blue fire of controlled biotics, but her focus was far away. Her head tilted slightly in his direction.

"Thane," Rea started her voice low and husky, "I need to concentrate."

She started closing her eyes again, but Thane toned again, insistently.

"Re-ha" He always pronounced her short name strangely, "You need to drink this so you can continue."

Heartbeats passed, and Rea nodded slightly.

"Will you hold it for me; I can't move my hands right now."

Thane held it and Audrea took steady gulps until the liquid was gone.

"Ug, that's vile." She said as she finished the last swallow. "Thank you Thane. I need to…"

Audrea trailed off, and her eyes and fluttered closed again. Thane padded quietly out of the room, leaving Rea to her work. Dr. Chakwas gave him a congratulatory smile as he emerged.

"I knew you'd be able to make her listen."

"Yes, she's deep in meditation. How long has she been working on Tali?"

"About ten hours now. I do hope she finishes soon, the shunt is as dangerous as the infection if it's in much longer."

The doctor's hopes came true. She came back later, and found Audrea had finally moved from her statuesque position. The shunt had been removed, and a few small stitches had closed the hole. Tali's condition had improved dramatically. Her vitals were steady, and the fever she'd been running had dissipated. Audrea was on the bed next to her patient, lying on her side with her head cradled against her arm. At first Chakwas thought that Audrea had fallen asleep, but as she shuffled about the room, she saw Rea sit up from the bed.

Their eyes locked, in professional understanding. The weariness was stamped plainly on Rea's face, but she had a small satisfied smile.

"It worked?"

"Yeah," Rea said almost breathlessly, "Most significant amounts of contamination are gone. The area around the initial wound is still a little inflamed, but I dosed her up with more antibiotics."

Rea handed the doctor the sealed beaker that had almost a liter's worth of fluid, sickly and green.

"Incredible." Chakwas breathed. "You are an artist, Audrea."

Rea bowed her head in recognition of the compliment.

"You should go rest Audrea, I'll watch Tali."

She obeyed without argument, and soon the doctor was alone, watching the much improved patient. Twelve hours ago, she was on the edge of death and now she slumbering peacefully, and Chakwas was left wondering if she had seen a miracle.


	15. Disconnection and Decendents

Note at the bottom=)

"Commander, could I speak with you for a moment?"

Kelly approached Shepard as she was rifling through some paper work.

"What can I help you with Kelly?"

"It's about Audrea, I'm a bit…concerned."

"Concerned how?"

"She's been distancing herself from the rest of the crew recently. She seems to be disengaging from social interactions more frequently. I'm not even sure if she's spoken to anyone in the last few days."

"She's been through a lot Kelly, I don't blame her if she needs a little time to herself."

"That's not what I mean Commander. There's hardly a standard for her situation, but my gut is telling me that if she continues so, she may lose her grasp on what the reality is. She'd been yanked from her life in the past during wartime, which as you know, war is surreal in itself. She's been thrust in a future that's bleaker than the world she was used to in a different sort of war, and now she's been anointed with a power that's showing visions, most of which are violent, and hopeless. She's lost her family, her friends, her entire life, and the only people in the entire universe she even knows are the people on this ship, and the man hunting her. Honestly I'm amazed she's coping as well as she is. I think most people would be in full blown psychosis by now."

"I see, but what can we possibly do? As you said there's hardly a precedent for this."

"I think we need to engage her more actively, to help her focus herself on the present. She spends most of her time meditating, and studying, so I think physical activity and personal interaction will help anchor her."

Shepard sat and considered this for a moment. The woman had provided her with some interesting challenges, and was full of mysteries, but none of them were her doing. At the same time she was open and honest; Rea would answer questions honestly and precisely, and would never brag about any accomplishment. Not even after her miraculous feat of becoming an artificial immune system for Tali. Shepard had been visiting the Quarian the morning after Rea had finished. Tali had been bright, and fairly bubbly, grateful to be alive and excited by the possibilities for her people provided by Rea's ingenuity. Rea had strode in; still looking a little harried even after a full twelve hours of sleep, and had taken all compliments and courtesy about her feat from the crew in stride. She'd wave it off with the flick of her wrist and just say that it was her duty. Shepard's mouth curled down in a slight frown. It was after that biotic marathon that Rea's demeanor had changed, and her visions become a steady occurrence every night.

"Thank you Kelly, I'll make sure to take care of this."

Shepard dismissed the head shrink, and made her way down to the med-bay to talk to the real doctor. Chakwas was deep in conspiracy with Mordin when she walked in, which was fortuitous. The Salarian may be an odd bird that brought a whole new meaning to crazy scientist but he was invaluable.

After a brief discussion with the two, Shepard had established that yes, Audrea had changed drastically and it had started after saving Tali. Rea's brain scans were, as usual, abnormal and steadily increasing. Chakwas was certain there was a connection between her prophetic abilities and her biotics and Mordin postulated that the extreme use of her biotics triggered an increase in the dreams. Both were concerned with the possibility of her brain overloading and were uncertain what would happen if she were allowed to slip away. Theories ranged from some sort of coma to a psychotic break to total loss of control of her biotic abilities. Basically it all came down to that Audrea was a walking biotic bomb, which needed to be defused.

Kelly mentioned an anchor, and it was with that goal in mind that Shepard went on a hunt.

_**BREAK**_

The images from her dreams swirled in her head every night. Sometimes they were crystal clear, a series of events that played like a movie. Other times they were vague, alluding at things to come, like an artist's abstract painting. Then there were her normal dreams, manifestations of a normal sleep cycle, which were mashed in periodically. It was getting increasingly difficult to tell the difference between the two and it was one such dream startled her awake.

Hot breath on her neck, and fevered skin pressed close. There was a body pressing her down and were large hands roaming freely over her body. And there were eyes whose gaze pinned her with a stare, like a cobra hypnotizing a rodent. It was a topic that had haunted Rea's dreams before, but with an entirely different theme. She hadn't been plagued by dreams of Xiang Cho for several months, and this time it was replaced with a different face. The shocking part was that it hadn't been unwelcome.

She lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, the stunning image of Thane's face seared onto her retinas, and a bewildered feeling growing steadily. Audrea couldn't tell if she were more surprised by the fact that Cho's face had been replaced by someone else, or that it was Thane's and she'd liked it.

The small interlude on the Citadel came to mind.

_That had actually been enjoyable._

The thought popped into her head unbidden. Then Rea scowled to herself, brows lowering and nose crinkling unhappily. She couldn't tell if it had been a dream fabricated naturally in her sleep, or a foretelling of the future. She also wasn't sure that if it was a vision, if she liked fate meddling with her deeply personal life. It came down to a whole free will versus destiny conflict. But the Drell's presence did have a soothing effect on her soul.

_Bollocks, it's got to be a dream. It's just a mixture of memories and projection. Isn't it?_

Audrea sat up and rubbed her face with a hand, trying to dispel the feeling that she was going to drive herself crazy trying to keep the dreams straight. She had started plastering her room with sticky notes, a happy plunder from the pack she'd retrieved from Mount Delphi. Mordin had come by one day, and had been fascinated with the ingenious simplicity of the paper and Audrea had gifted him with a pack. He'd analyzed it lavishly for an office supply, and had made improvements to the glue and the durability of the paper. Now she had a near endless supply of Post-it's on steroids. She'd write the significant facts of the dreams down, and try and arrange them on some meandering timeline that seemed to drunkenly circle around her room.

It wasn't very effective but sometimes there were details that would stick out to point out that people had changed, giving a clue to the timeline. Sometimes it was a scar that was healed, like with Garrus, or other strange details would present themselves.

The abstract dreams were difficult to even make sense of much less put in any sort of timeline, and these she placed to the side of her metal desk.

She took a moment, before she wrote down this latest dream. At first she wanted to dismiss it, and not even bother with making it significant enough to jot down, but something kept her fingers around the pen and her hand poised, ready to write.

Audrea didn't want to bluntly write, 'Erotic dream of Thane' down and stick it out in the open. Too many people stopped in and look at her project, sometimes pointing out if they recognized a name or one of the small sketches she'd try and draw. She wasn't a great artist but sometimes a symbol would be familiar to someone.

Finally she wrote Beguiling Cobra on a note and fastened it to the wall, apart from the rest of the haphazard time line. Hopefully she wouldn't get too many questions about it. Some of her stranger notes held phrases like 'Operatic Shrimp' and 'Living Graveyard'.

Restlessness took ahold of her and she picked up on of Sofia's journals and left her room and all the implications. She wandered her way to the top of her familiar container pyramid in the cargo bay. It was slightly noisy with the sounds of machinery threading through the room, but it was a kind of white noise, that let Audrea tune it out.

She spent the next few hours reading her way through more of her daughter's life. It was strange, and sometimes felt invasive, but Sofia led a rich and fulfilling life, going into medical research, and having a brood of five children. Rea was proud of Sofia, she was a genuine person and was good at her research. She was the lead on the team that had discovered the cure for cancer, identifying the oncogene responsible for the mutation in many different variants and figuring out how to turn it off.

Shepard had broken the news of what the Illusive Man had said, and a good portion of her decedents had vanished with the Collectors. Rea found it hard to grieve for a family she hadn't even known, but it did bring home the magnitude of the struggle they all were facing. Even the dreams hadn't made it seem so real.

Audrea had read through the entire set of diaries once and now she was making her way through it again. Aiden had been prevalent in Sofia's life for almost every moment in her younger years, and half her college years, but as a time passed he started to disappear from her mentions, until finally it became a series of reflections about her twin that seemed to have vanished.

It hadn't felt right to Audrea so she was spilling through the books, and was hoping…well she wasn't sure what she was hoping for but details were the devil.

She was about to stop and go find something to eat when something caught her attention. It was when Sofia was about 23 and shortly before Aiden started disappearing for extended periods of time in Sofia's writing. She was reflecting on an evening with her twin in a pub, enjoying themselves and celebrating a milestone. She had mused in passing that Aiden had been a bit stranger than normal, and mentioned in passing that he'd wanted to learn the truth, and get closer to mom. She'd waved it off as drunken ramblings and the not quite healed wounds from the loss. Her twin had always been thick into conspiracy theories, and she'd actually been surprised that it had taken him this long to make his mother's disappearance into one.

Rea had a feeling; this is where it had started. Aiden had started on a path looking for something that he couldn't find, and had gotten lost along the way. He was looking for the truth. Maybe he'd come across the rumor she'd defected?

Audrea let the problem work its way through her head.

If he was looking for the truth he would have started with the last known documents of her, which would have been her service records and phsyc-report after being released. She brought up the copy she had still in her omni-tool. Rea looked at herself, trying to find something that might have stood out to her son.

Almost ready to admit defeat and let her critical eye rest, she looked at the small notation about her petition to change her surname back to her maiden name. Aiden had said he wanted to get closer to mom. The hunch gnawed at Rea's consciousness and it took her only a brief moment to ask EDI to look for an Aiden Sephirde. It wasn't long before EDI chimed back that she had found an Aiden Sephirde in the antiquated Alliance databases, and he had been recruited into the counter-intelligence unit.

That's why he seemed to have dropped out of existence. Aiden had changed his last name and impulsively joined the military, becoming a spook. Rea let out a soft scoff of amazement. The irony wasn't lost on her at all. His records extended for about ten years, and much of it held blacked out sections from top secret missions but he was decorated. All too soon she saw the label of MIA slapped boldly scrolled out, and the records ended.

Rea closed the file, and rested her arm in her lap. Her eyes traced the pattern on the gunmetal walls, as she processed the new discovery. EDI was already scanning through files but nothing popped out as fortuitously as Aiden's records, and soon Rea had spaced out while sitting in her perch. Her body was awake and her eyes were trained on the wall's surface but her mind wandered far off into distant things.

_**Break**_

The grumbling protest of her stomach pulled her awake. She was still on top of the crates, and had drifted off. She'd never fallen asleep unintentionally until recently and now it seemed to happen all too often. Rea never thought that narcolepsy would be an occupational hazard. Years as a solider and more years as a surgeon had trained her body into long, grueling hours, and she had learned to snatch sleep when she could, but it had always been when the job was done.

Audrea slid off and landed on the floor lightly. She stretched, trying to work the kink in her neck that had formed while she had slumbered on the hard crates. The lights were low, belaying the ships sleep cycle, with only a few crewmen ghosting around the ship, so she was surprised when she made her way up to the mess and found a group conversing around a table.

Rea squinted as she surveyed the group, and realized that the women of the crew had banded together for an evening of drunken debauchery. Even Jack was in full gossip mode. Overly affectionate greetings filled the room as she popped into view, slight slurring in abundance, and crushing any hopes of slipping away unseen.

Kelly slipped her arm through Rea's, and practically dragged her to the table. Someone else pressed a drink into her hand as she lowered herself to the bench. She twisted the glass in her fingers for a moment before Shepard pointed and ordered her to drink. Rea lifted a shoulder in a half shrug and titled the glass back, letting the burning liquid slide down her throat. She coughed in response, with the small question in the back of her head if she was about to breathe fire, or spit acid like the thresher maw's she'd heard about.

There was a cheer of admiration from her side as she sputtered.

"What in hell is that?"

"Ryncol, hits you like the Krogan it's made for." Shepard answered, with only a slightly glossy look on her face, and pouring her another drink.

Rea downed the alcohol again, feeling the burning turn pleasant in her limbs and the knot in her neck start to loosen. Tali set a bowl in front of her with a spoon next to it.

"You need to stop skipping dinner Keelah." She admonished as Rea's stomach betrayed her loudly.

Rea set to work on the leftovers from dinner, listening to the amiable conversation floating around the table. It felt strange being in such a large group of women. She'd spent most of her life as the odd female in a man's club, standing her ground fiercely, so sitting with this group of was a bit of a trip. Not that this was a normal group of women. They were all strong and independent, confident in their abilities and all, like Audrea, use to pulling strength from within.

She smiled quietly to herself as she listened to Kelly tell a story about a man she once dated, and the awkward position she found herself in when she walked in on him and some unnamed Asari. She concluded the story about how that incident opened her views on relationships with the other races. So far Turians were her favorite, she stated as she wistfully looked toward the main battery.

There were a couple amiable snickers around the group, and even Jack was smiling broadly. Rea had polished off her dinner, and Shepard poured her another drink of Ryncol. It seemed only the two of them were drinking the foul liquid. Apparently it was something that not many people, other than Krogans, were willing to consume. If it hadn't been for Rea's increased metabolic function, she was certain that she would be on the floor by now. She had no idea how Shepard was able to handle it.

She was letting the liquid slip down her throat when Tali piped up, trying to sound innocent.

"So Rea, you never talk about your past relationships, give us a hint into your type of man."

Audrea's reaction was to choke and spit her fiery drink out, but she managed to just cough a little.

"I didn't realize that I was signing on for an evening of sexploits. I don't have any stories nearly as entertaining as Kelly's. "

"Eh, we don't need stories; just give us a list of manly qualifications that are up your ally. Who knows, I think Jack here might have a brother that might fit you." Kelly tried unsuccessfully for subtlety.

Rea laughed and shook her head, she hadn't thought of what her type of man was in years. There had been no time and little inclination to tie her life to someone else's like that again. There were too many memories.

"Oh I don't know, I'm not sure I even have a 'type' anymore. I'm a firm believer on relying on my own strength. I've noticed over the years that there are men that are comfortable with capable women and those that feel like our existence is a threat to theirs. I'm sure all of you have run into more than a few of the later."

There was a derisive snort from Miranda and more than a few nods from around the table.

"I guess the biggest thing I'm interested in anymore is someone who is not only comfortable with the strength of my determination, but someone who also has their own. I don't mean physical either. Though don't get me wrong, I have _absolutely_ nothing against a fit man." Audrea quirked her mouth into a perverse smirk before she slipped back into her serious manner. "He has to have strength of character, which you don't find in many men. Some call it faith, some call it willpower. I'm not sure but it's the quality of a person's soul that I'm interested in. He has to have the power to break me, but would never even consider it."

The room was quiet for a moment before Kelly spoke.

"I was really just asking if you were more into tall dark and handsome, or fresh and sun-bleached."

Rea laughed along with the others before replying decisively.

"Tall, he must be taller than me. Other than that looks are something you adjust to anyway. For all I care he could be gr…" Rea choked off the rest of her sentence with a gurgled cough. She realized how she was about to finish the sentence and that hit far too close to the recent dream. Damn beguiling cobra.

Rea grimaced to herself, feeling entirely exposed at the moment. Kelly gave her a knowing look, and she was so focused on her that she missed the thoughtful look on Shepard's. The conversation moved forward, leaving Audrea to her not so obvious embarrassment. Samara interjected with a story from her maiden years, and thankfully everyone was intent on the Asari, so they didn't notice her discomfort.

The camaraderie went on for a while longer, occasionally a person slipping off to their beds. Rea tried a few times to sneak off, but each time she attempted Shepard would prevent it and make her drink another glass of Ryncol. It wasn't long before she was feeling tipsy, even with her increased processing, and stopped trying to retreat from the room. Soon it was down to just her and Shepard and Tali who was nearly snoozing on the table top.

"How are you doing Rea?"

"Well, I would say I'm only one sheet to the wind. Just the right amount of pleasant."

Shepard smiled slightly, and leaned forward, resting her forearms on the table.

"I meant overall. There's been some concern about you lately. You've almost completely disengaged from the rest of the crew, and we all just want to make sure you're ok."

"I'm…not sure. You're right, I do feel disconnected, and sometimes the dreams get to me. I miss my family and all the memories that I never got to make with them. Do you know how strange it is to wake up one day, having just about everything you know change, and everyone in your life gone?"

Shepard was quiet for a moment, looking somewhere in the distance.

"I only lost two years, and while many people moved on, I still have a few of them. That was hard enough. I can't imagine what losing your entire life would be like."

"Time waits for no man." Rea murmured to herself. "Well, at least I have the advantage of not having been clinically dead."

Shepard chuckled slightly to herself and leaned back in her seat, stretching her arms back behind her. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could EDI chimed in with her melodic voice.

"Audrea, I have something you will be interested in. Commander, this is something you will also want to hear."

"Alright EDI, shoot."

"I did more research into Aiden Sephirde. He was declared MIA, but there were inconsistencies with the records. There was a variant with the last name that intrigued me. Sephirde is the French version of an Anglo-Saxon name."

"That's right; it's my mother's name. She spent most of her childhood in France."

"Well, I ran the altered name through the databases and came up with a result. Aiden was declared MIA but in truth abandoned intelligence unit. There were some arguments with superiors on how they were handling the reconstruction and the democratization of China. Apparently he used his extensive undercover training to create himself a new identity and went rogue. There was an illuminating biography on him that I'm uploading to your omni-tool."

Audrea looked at the title, and let out a small noise of amazement. She looked up at Shepard, not quite sure what to say, but somewhere deep inside knew there was more coming.

"There is more. I did the same ancestral search I did with Sofia. Records say Aiden had one child, a son. The line extends singly to a child born in 2154. That child's parents, both soldiers of the alliance, were killed in the First Contact War."

Shepard had a piercing look in her eyes.

"EDI, what was the name." The commander said sternly.

"The Anglo-Saxon version of Sephirde is Shepard. Aiden is your great-grandfather Commander."

_**A/N Ahaha, I've been waiting so long to toss that one out there. Sorry about the long delay on this one. I was trying to work a few snags out in my head, and I needed to take a step back and look at it analytically. **_

_**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and hopefully it won't be so long in between the next one. As always I do enjoy a review.**_


	16. The Space Between

_**A/N Thank you everyone for your reviews and faves, and PM's=D I have a fabulous list of exclamations from the last chapter's bomb. I'm glad it actually was a surprise! I was certain someone was going catch the similarities between Sephirde and Shepard and call me out on it, though I did have one reader who early on said it'd be a neat idea if Audrea was able find her decedents. Heheh.**_

_**I think I had the most fun writing this chapter over any of the others, so I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did. I still feel like it needs a little bit more, but after so many revisions I'm posting it anyway.**_

_**I'm also doing a little bit of editing to previous chapters. I think my writing has improved some; I finally have all the dust knocked off=) but if anyone has suggestions on how I can rework the earlier chapters I'm more than happy to listen. I'd love to get a few more fans of this story. I have plenty more plot twists to go around.**_

Shepard just sat there with her mouth open, as if to say something, but nothing came out. The mess was silent except for the steady hum of the mechanics of the ship. Audrea stared at the Commander, wondering how, with all her foresight, she couldn't have picked up on this sooner. They shared the same green eyes, were approximately the same height and build. Audrea's hair was dark, like rich earth, but Shepard had the blazing auburn hair of her mother and brother, Finn.

"How can you be sure EDI?" Audrea asked tentatively.

"Once I had found the name Aiden used, I was able to follow his decedents easily. Most carry military records, despite his complications. When it came to Shepard's generation, things were more difficult, but I had a...hunch. Unbound by the human peculiarity to deny what can be obvious, I've noticed the similarities between the two of you. I ran a DNA comparison of the samples Dr. Chakwas has and it was a positive match."

Silence ensued again, and seconds stretched into minutes, until suddenly Shepard stood and walked out of the room. She didn't yell angrily or wail in astonishment, she just bludgeoned her way through the silence and strode out. Audrea didn't twitch a muscle, even as she heard the elevator doors hiss shut.

"She never has been very fond of surprises." Tali's voice lilted carefully. Her sleepiness had been dispelled when EDI had begun her revelations and was now looking at Rea intently through the glass of her mask.

Audrea huffed a small laugh in reply, uncertain if she were feeling amused by the parallels at all.

"Yeah, my brother hated them too."

Audrea twisted her torso to look over her shoulder when she heard a small scuff on the metal floor behind her. Garrus had emerged unnoticed from his place in the battery, and was leaning on the railing. His arms were crossed over his chest. He had an introspective look on his face.

"Jane never knew her parents, you know. She knew their names, and that they'd died in combat during what you humans call the First Contact War, but it happened when she was three, so she doesn't even remember them. Never had a sibling, uncle, anyone that gave a damn about her, really until she joined the Alliance."

"Is my family cursed to continuously be war orphans?" Rea sighed softly under her breath. It was so soft Tali asked what she said, but Garrus's superior hearing picked it up.

"I wouldn't put it like that. I'd say more blessed with a dogged determination and iron will."

Audrea shook her head, trying to shake the cobwebs of disbelief from her mind. She lifted her omni-tool and looked again at the title of the book EDI had placed there 'Aiden Shepard: Ghost of the Reformation Rebellion.' She had caught up on a lot of Earth's history but she had also skipped large portions, so she had only heard of the reformation in passing.

"EDI, could you…summarize this for me, I'm not sure I'm up to reading it at the moment."

"Certainly, Audrea. It was written by a reporter Hans Jordan that apparently was close to Aiden through the years, he actually won the Pulitzer Prize for it. Hans was an asset of Aiden's during his time in counter-intelligence. It appears to have been mutually beneficial though, Hans received much information for his articles, so he states. According to this book, Aiden grew discouraged over the way the Alliance was treating the reconstruction of China, and the other countries involved in the war. There were a lot of greedy politicians and businessmen that, and I quote from Hans 'were sucking the soul from an already defeated country'. He abandoned the Alliance; a few of the other officers under his command followed him. They formed a rebellion that spanned the course of thirty years. It started small, but over the course of that time the native people eagerly joined, and eventually he was successful in preventing the near slavery and decimation of the land. He was considered a traitor for the rest of his life but was pardoned posthumously when certain documents came to light that condemned several high ranking officials. It was a scandal that caused a complete restructure of how military worked with private businesses."

Rea shook her head, trying to make sense of all of this. It had been easy to see the sweet Sofia as a woman deep in her research but it was harder to correlate the memories of Aiden with the spook, the leader of a rebellion that changed the future of a country.

"It must be hard to find out that he fought for your enemy." Garrus said softly.

"Hmm?" Audrea pulled herself out of her revelry, "Oh, they were never my enemy. The only person I could ever call my enemy was Xiang Cho, and the other soldiers of that camp. The rest of the people of China were as many of us are, swept away by the orders of our leaders. Those are the people truly responsible for most of the atrocities in history. I'm proud of Aiden; he saw terrible wrongs and refused to participate. In fact he risked everything to correct it."

She sighed heavily and stood.

"Excuse me; I need some time to myself." She walked from the room without any further preamble.

Rea sat cross legged, looking at the stars through the observation window. She needed to dismiss all the crazy thoughts from her head for a while. She slowed her breathing and steadied her heart rate as she let the comforting feel of meditation settle over her. Soon her eyes drifted closed and her mind cleared as she breathed the pattern Thane had taught her not that long ago.

The steady rhythm of breath carried her away to a sea of tranquility, and she contented herself with the pulse of existence. She opened her eyes feeling renewed, and was only mildly surprised when she didn't see the widow with its dark display of the cosmos.

Great dunes rolled out ahead of her, spilling red sand steadily down its slopes as the wind whistled by. Behind her, she could hear the gentle sigh of the sea licking at the shore. Suddenly a voice spoke from her side.

"Rea, you need to open your eyes further. You're still blind."

Rea turned to look at the face of her brother Finn, who stood in a pair of jeans, and his familiar leather jacket, apparently unaffected by the heat by the desert sea. She could feel the sun beating down on her fair skin.

"Finn, my God, I've missed you brother." She hugged him tightly, for a long moment, not caring if it was reality. Even seeing a faux brother was an immense comfort.

"I've missed you too Rea. When I came and didn't find you, I was certain something was wrong. You had fifty years to find your way here first."

"Here first? This is a little sparse for heaven Finn. I guess it could be a type of hell; it seems a little too beautiful for that though."

Rea drank in the sight of her brother's face as he smiled. It was the same one Shepard had, when she would rarely smile, and again she was amazed how she hadn't see her brother's face stamped on the woman that had saved her life.

"No, it's not heaven. It's just a place that fills the…between."

Rea considered this for a moment, turning to look out over the cobalt waves.

"I'm sorry Finn, for disappearing on you. I hope that I didn't ruin everything."

"Don't apologize, sis. It was hardly something you had any control over. Fate had bigger plans for you."

"Fate, you never believed in that bullshit either, Finn. Why are you spewing that line of shit to me?"

"Life changes a man, Rea and death has a way of opening your mind. I lived full and well for you, but the things I've seen have changed my opinion of what I felt in my youth."

"You lived to be an old man, huh."

"You see me now as you knew me, but yes my soul has aged greatly. Now it's time for you to stop thinking like a scientist and embrace the greater possibility. I know you're already aware you're in tune with the flow of the universe, but I don't think you're aware of how far it goes. You still have your sight blocked and you need to _open _your eyes."

"You're right Finn; I'm blind and also lost. I need some help; I need my big brother to tell me what to do. I have so many questions, and so many answers that I need help interpreting. "

"I can't tell you what to do. I don't have the answer for that. I can tell you that you need to _open_ your eyes Rea. You need to see all that's in front of you before it's too late."

"A lot of help you are."

"You wouldn't listen to me even if I could tell you. You'd just blaze your own path, consequences be damned. You were always obnoxiously stubborn."

Audrea snorted, oddly comforted by the familiar insult. She reached out and threaded her hand through her brother's arm and linking elbows. Resting her head on his shoulder as she had done when she was younger, she stared out over the calm dark sea. Behind them the blazing sun hung high over the red dunes, but in front of them it was full night, stars blinking tranquilly. In the far distance Rea could see the tall heads of thunderclouds towering in the sky, flashes of lightning sparking erratically. The wind was picking up slowly, belaying the oncoming storm.

"There isn't much time left Rea." Finn pointed to the distance. "It's all coming together and soon it will be too late. The nature of your awakening prevented the intended course of events. There's one last chance before it's all swept away in the storm."

Audrea sighed, wanting to keep her patience over her brother's new found penchant for the cryptic.

"What do you mean 'intended course of events'? Something else was supposed to happen?"

The specter of Finn stood silent for a long moment before he answered.

"It didn't happen, so it can hardly mess things up further if I tell you. Cerberus was never supposed to find you, much less hold you for two years. You were intended to wake with the first signs of the Reapers, and Shepard was supposed to find you before she started her hunt for Saren. The Illusive Man made a real mess of things, and now plans that were set in motion millions of years ago are in jeopardy."

"How can you possibly know this? Did you also develop magic seer powers in the time I was gone?"

Finn laughed and rested his cheek against the top of Rea's head.

"Hardly, I might not have spent my life convinced someone was holding you captive somewhere if I did. Though, I suppose that was the closest thing to the truth I could have imagined at the time. But as I told you, this is a place between. I'm on the other side, where there are no more questions."

Audrea had the urge to ask him how it was on the other side, and a thousand other questions, but she knew instinctually that he wouldn't say anything about it. So she asked him more questions about his life. They stood for a long time speaking of their past together, and his alone.

"If you ever get back to Earth, go look at my crown achievement, Rea Spire in London. I designed it with you always on my mind."

Rea promised she would, touched deeply that instead of putting his own name on his architecture he put hers.

She stood with the man that had been her solid ground her entire life, her heart aching for the time when things were simple. Sadly it had been almost twenty waking years for her, when her memories had the rosy glow of childhood.

"There's nothing wrong with the comfort of the past Rea, it created the frame for your future, but if you don't evolve you'll soon be lost. Let it go, let Us go." Finn's voice had changed, and suddenly her head wasn't resting on a shoulder, it was leaning on the bicep of a man much taller than her. Her fingers weren't wrapped around soft leather, but were clinging to the thick fabric of army fatigues splashed with the browns and tans of the desert. Dark eyes stood out from a tan face, with buzzed dark hair covering his head.

"Trevor? What…"

"Finn told you, this is a place between. It doesn't always have to make sense. Stop trying to logic this all out in your head and listen. Open your _eyes."_

"Trevor, I can't. I'm scared, this is all too big, and I've run out of fire. My whole life has been trying to correct mistakes of my making or others, but I just can't do it. I can't see the answers."

"You can Rea. I've never known someone that was better at fixing things than you. You know what needs to be done, and have the patience and knowledge to do it. It's one of the reasons I loved you so much. I'm glad I was able to have you by my side in my lifetime. The universe has need of your great sight now, so need to stop resisting and let it go. We'll all be here when it's time to rest, but fate willing you'll live to be an old lady. They need you Rea, they all need you to _open your eyes._"

"How? How do I open them; what am I even looking for?"

"Open them by not resisting, and look for what is right in front of you. Stop being so stubborn and stop trying to handle the insanity of it on your own. There are arms to catch you and hands to help lift back up. You need to stay strong and lift your voice."

Rea released Trevor's arm to stand face to face with him. Her mantle of patience had fallen off and she was about to start a fierce tongue lashing on the bogusness of riddles. Trevor raised his hand, palm up. Rea stopped her unformed triad and stared, curious for a moment, before he rapidly turned his palm over and pushed it forcefully toward her forehead. She started, reaching out in reflex to catch his wrist.

Fingers wrapped around muscle and tendon, stopping the action, but somehow she still felt a sturdy smack to her forehead. She winced more from reaction than pain, and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. When her lids fluttered open again, she knew in an instant reality had shifted once again.

The familiar feel of epithelial skin had shifted under her fingertips to the smoother feel of scales, and she was no longer standing. She was sitting cross legged once again in front of the observation window. The red dunes and blazing sun, along with the cobalt sea and night sky and the distant oncoming storm had all disappeared. Trevor was gone and Finn hadn't reappeared. The echoes whispers of both of them rang in her ears. _Open your eyes._

Crouched in front of her was Thane, concern painted plainly on his face. She had his wrist in her hand, and he had the offending forearm in his, though he wasn't resisting.

"Re'ha, you have been motionless for far too long. I grew concerned when you started to look red and feverish. I tried to wake you from your meditations but you wouldn't open your eyes."

Audrea couldn't see anything of herself but the exposed flesh of her arms, and they had the red kiss of the sun on them, as if she really had been standing with the dead in a blazing desert sun by the sea that belonged in the between.

She released Thane's wrist, but he kept ahold of her arm, black eyes staring at her, duel eyelids partially closed as his critical eyes assessed her. Her eyes traced the lines of his face from the sweeping curve of his brow to the tantalizing slit in his lip. In an instant she was all too aware of how close he was to her, his hand firm but gentle on her skin, his face inches from her.

The images and the voices of the ghosts that followed her swirled in her head. They had both told her open her eyes; see the future in front of her. Was it a coincidence that made her wake from her dream to Thane's visage, or was it, as her ghosts told her, the hands of fate that she was trying to circumvent? Why was she even trying to resist when so much more than her sensibilities hung in the balance?

Rea felt the last bits of her resistance drain from her, and let her free arm rise. Impulsively she reached out and let her fingers trace the ridges that sloped from his cheeks, up across his temporal lobe and down his neck. She trailed them gently across the rusty-red skin of his throat. It was a different texture from his scales, almost like the skin from her body, but had a more leathery feel. The color changed from the rust-red to a deep crimson as her finger tips lingered. Audrea wasn't sure if it was the Drell form of blushing or some other physiological reaction, she'd have to ask him later. Thane was still crouched, holding her wrist with an uncertain, almost stunned, look on his normally stoic face.

Rea quirked a smile at him as her fingers trace back up his ridge. The calluses on her hands had worn thin from the months of not being used in their normal fashion and the pad of her pinkie caught on a small point further down his neck. She hissed slightly in surprised reaction. Immediately Thane's hands had released her other wrist and were cradling her hand gently. He was staring at her intently as he lowered his face to her hand and tentatively kissed her palm. The thunder of her heartbeat roared in her ears, drowning out the last sounds of the apparitions and banishing the last shreds of doubt.

As Thane's lips rose from her palm and his spine straightened, Rea slid her free had around the back of his neck and closed the last few inches between them. She pressed her lips fully against his in a kiss reminiscent of the one that he gave her in the Citadel. This time she was in control, and he was the one surprised by the advance. Mouths parted willingly as they explored each other's. The scientist in her was buried deep now, taking notes on their subtle differences, but Rea took no notice. Thane's hands had wrapped around her waist and pulled her close. They were roaming freely up her back and a steady, deep hum had begun. Thane's sub-harmonics had started up and the deep thrum of his bass resonated soundly in Audrea's chest. She gasped as the vibration of his voice traveled down her spine. In a flurry of hands and fabric they began to undress each other. It was hurried and urgent, and after some tactical consideration to the myriad of buckles and zippers on Thane's leather she had his chest bare. His part was simpler; all he had to do was pull her tank top over her head.

Thane set to kissing lightly down the sensitive skin of her neck. Rea tilted her chin back, enjoying as the moment enveloped her. They were so lost in their desire for each other neither heard the slide of the doors open. A polite cough made Rea freeze, muscles stiffening. Thane had a different reaction. He pressed her naked chest against his and twisted the two of them smoothly so Rea's exposed back was facing the emptiness of space instead of the unwelcome visitor that had interrupted them. Always the gentleman, he had provided her with a smidge more modesty.

Audrea rested her chin on Thane's shoulder, and tried not to shoot a death glare and Zaeed who was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed, and an amused look playing boldly on his face.

"Don' stop on my account. I hate interrupting a good show."

"Zaeed…"

"I'm just teasin' you doll. Though, you should consider locking the door next time unless, of course, you enjoy providing entertainment for the rest of us lonely crew."

"I'll keep that in mind." Thane said drily.

"Anywho, the Commander was looking for you Rea."

Audrea nodded, waiting for the old mercenary to leave before she moved from her tenuously modest spot, pressed up against Thane.

Zaeed bellowed unabashedly as she moved down the hall, toward where Shepard presumably was.

"Your grandmamma will be out in a moment Shep. Her and Krios were busy playin' doctor, so I'd bet…"

The rest of his sentence was cut off as the door slid shut. Rea groaned as she moved her chin off Thane and rested her forehead on his broad shoulder instead.

"Well that was rather awkward." Rea mumbled into his frame.

"I'm more disturbed by the fact that I did not hear him enter, than the fact I was caught in a compromising position with a beautiful woman." Rea lifted her head and smiled in appreciation of his compliment. "Though, I'm regretful for your embarrassment."

Rea flicked her wrist to the side, as if banishing the awkwardness with a single motion.

"I'm not ashamed; I think I'll get over it rather quickly, especially if I have incentive." Rea gave him a Cheshire grin before placing a kiss on his lips. Thane returned it passionately. She was forced to break it off, breathlessly. Her blood was pounding hot in her veins.

"We'd better dress before we become distracted and more visitors come." Thane's voice echoed her thoughts.

They stood, scattered clothing was quickly collected, and in a matter of moments they were presentable once again. Rea's deft hands helped him with the buckles. Her fingers lingered on the exposed part of his chest, resting lightly on his sternum. His black eyes delved deep into her green eyes, searching. Beneath the quiet, stoic exterior, Rea could tell there was uncertainty playing. Her advance had been sudden and unexpected, and she knew any human male would be unbalanced. Thane, with his silent careful ways was probably feeling the same after her impulsive decision.

"We'll finish this thought later." Rea promised as she turned and left the room, leaving Thane smiling softly to himself.

Her long legs carried her through the halls until she rounded the corner to the mess. Shepard was there sipping on a cup of coffee. Her eyebrows rose as she studied Rea over the rim of her mug. Zaeed stood there smirking, and amusement skittered across the lips of several others. Rea narrowed her eyes, and put on her best 'I dare you to say anything' look. Garrus laughed loudly, offsetting her fierce look.

"I can't see how any of us didn't see the relation earlier. I've seen that look on your face a thousand times Shepard."

"Yes, well no one was really looking for it. There have been far too many other things that have been vying for our attention for it to matter that Audrea is my great-great grandmother. Which, by the way, Rea I have to apologize to you for my reaction earlier. I was blindsided by it and I reacted poorly."

"No worries, Shepard. I hardly behaved better, the only difference is that was rooted to my chair, and you were not." Audrea lifted her shoulder in her half-shrug.

Shepard motioned for Rea to follow and they left the room, and the several pairs of curious eyes behind. They made their way to the loft and sat, a thoughtful look covering Shepard's face.

"I'm sorry I interrupted you and Thane during your…" She delicately looked for a proper phrase, but eventually gave up and used Zaeed's term, "doctor time."

This made Audrea snicker, "He's such a loud mouth bastard."

"That's always been the problem with close quarters; you just can't keep a secret."

"Heh, yeah secrets get out before there's even a secret to keep."

"Seriously, though, I'm happy for you. Both of you, in your oddities, suit each other well. This also conveniently solves the problem of how we were going to get you more engaged with the rest of the crew."

Audrea smiled warmly, a few thoughts escaping to the Drell she had just reluctantly left.

"I wanted to talk to you, Audrea. I've never had any family to speak of, other than the military, so I'm not really sure how to go about this. It's a little…strange."

"You're being nice, this is downright insane. But, you don't have to worry Shepard. Nothing has to change. Biologically we're close to the same age, so I hardly have any hard earned wisdom to drop on you."

"Oh but you do. You have the whole knowledge of a past I never got to know, and the sight of a future I hope we can fix."

Audrea hummed thoughtfully to herself, thinking of the encounter she had just had in the place between. There had been plenty of warnings, so she was going to do everything she could to open her eyes.

The two of them spent long hours talking about their pasts, and how similar their lives had been, despite the century and a half between their births. Both war orphans, both joined the Alliance to escape; Rea from her stranger of a husband and Shepard from the gang life on Earth. Both had watched comrades die and both had survived terrible massacres. They bore the scars of life gracefully, drawing strength from tragedy instead of letting it break them. They'd been declared dead, and were both alive.

Heroes in their own right, they were now both swept up in events beyond themselves.

Sisters in arms, and tools of Fate.


	17. A Brief Respite

**A/N**

**Apologies for the long time in between chapters. I had a bit of writers block, and nothing felt like it could hold up to the last chapter, so I had a bit of a hard time trying to figure out how to proceed. Thank you to all of those who've reviewed and added me to their favorites. There's been a few new additions to followers since my last chapter. Welcome to you all! **

**School starts back up for me here in a few weeks, and I'm actually starting my program so unfortunatley, due to the fact I'll actually have to buckle down for the next few years, chapters will be sporatic. Don't worry though, I haven't abandoned it even if it takes me a month inbetween.**

**As always Reveiw! Not only does the feedback help improve my writting, it also wracks up those lovely review numbers (which is what I look at when I'm searching for more reading crack. Lots of reveiws lets me know a story has a lot of followers which in turn lets me know it -should- be good.) Drop me a PM if any of you have something in particular you'd like to see in the story line. You never know, a good idea might strike my fancy and I may incorpperate it into the story.**

Audrea was humming to herself softly in irritation when Thane walked through her door. She looked up and grinned in relief at him, and was rewarded with his small but significant smile. She rose from her seat on her bed, glad for the distraction. She had been having a reoccurring dream that she couldn't make any sense from.

'_Well, vision probably'_, she thought bitterly to herself. It didn't seem to be like the normal abstract visions, which was irony in itself. _'Normal abstract vision'_ she snorted annoyed with the thought, _'How many people can put those words together and have it make any sense?'_ The dream itself seemed to be chunks of the future spliced together, most flashes with the Normandy as the back drop, a broken coffee mug, a phrase from the Commander as she stood in the shuttle, and a distinct odor that still swirled in her nose hours after she woke. The smell is what set her most on edge; she couldn't remember any time that her olfactory sense had been engaged in one of her dreams.

"You've been holed up in your room far too long. Come with me."

Rea didn't even put up a token resistance as he pulled her out of the room.

"Is this an order from the commander to keep me engaged?" She inquired, all too aware of Shepard's standing order to have crew members meddle in her activities constantly. Rea knew it was out of concern for her, but the constant interruptions were irritating, and a little exhausting.

Thane glanced at her sideways.

"Shepard asked us all help to keep you from slipping away, but I had been concerned beforehand. I know all too well how easy it is to slip into memories of the past. Sometimes they're a refuge, the memories of better days, with my wife, and other times the tragedies of the past can hold me hostage. I can't imagine the difficulty of seeing the future; seeing just the evil and the hopelessness of what lies before us. I'm sure it's easy to drown the sea of foresight."

Audrea harnessed the bitterness of her emotions and regarded Thane.

"It's not all bad, what I dream. Sometimes they don't make any sense at all, but sometimes I see glimpses of hope. Sometimes it's just a glimmer of the mundane, a mother with her child, and other times it's Shepard or Tali or Garrus accomplishing…well I'm not always sure what but it feels like victory even if I don't see the end." Rea gave him a sly smile "I've even had a dream or two about you."

Thane gave little outward indication that he was startled by her statement, but Audrea heard the slight hitch in his breathing as he inhaled sharply through his nose. He turned to give her a searching look, and Audrea quirked a smile in response.

"It was certainly better than the nightmares." Rea laughed, leaving Thane to think what he would.

Thane led her into the cargo bay, where the shooting range was set up in the back, kinetic shields surrounding the area for safety.

"A little target practice?"

"I know you're a decent shot with pistols and assault rifles, but have you had any experience with sniper rifles?" Thane asked as he handed her a Viper.

"No, that's something I never trained in."

"Well, let's see how you do."

They set up, Rea settling into a comfortable position, resting the rifle on the ledge. She sighted in on the practice target and pulled the trigger. The thermal round didn't even clip the target and Audrea growled in frustration. Thane chuckled softly as he positioned himself behind her, placing his hands on her arms and adjusting the angle of her body. She tried to concentrate on the task at hand but with Thane pressed up against her as he repositioned her arms and his breathe hot on her neck, her focus kept shifting to the memory of their interrupted moment.

"Focus, Re-ha." Thane admonished gently when she tried to turn her neck to look at him. "The sniper rifle isn't brute strength like the assault rifle, it's an art form. Don't pull the trigger, squeeze it gently. Breathe as you do when you're meditating."

Audrea nodded and settled in, breathing steadily as she squeezed the trigger. This time the round hit the edge of the target. She laughed in appreciation when she saw her success.

"Better, much better." Thane praised and they continued their practice for a few hours. By the time they finished Audrea was beginning to become adept with the rifle.

"As usual you picked up on this quickly." Thane commented as they made their way out of the cargo bay.

"Why did you want to teach me this?" Audrea questioned as they moved.

"I had a feeling you'd be good at it and all of us want to keep you far from combat as possible. I know you were a soldier and can hold your own, but I also know you're a physician first and that initial instinct of yours is not to pull the trigger. You're not a killer, like me, and if you're ever in combat with us I want to be sure you're as far from the heat as possible. I don't wish you to be injured because of a split second of hesitation."

"Thane…"

At that moment EDI interrupted.

"Thane Krios, Commander Shepard wishes to speak with you."

"I'll be there directly."

Thane quickly disappeared and Audrea was left standing there with the rifle, touched over his concern and his deep insight into her character. By the time she made her way back up to crew quarters Shepard had left with Thane and Zaeed. Rea was left waiting uneasily, and praying that everything went smoothly.

Several hours later the team was back on the ship, looking haggard and a little worse for ware, and carrying a hunk of metal with them. Audrea was studying her meandering timeline on her walls when she heard the enraged voice of Tali echoing throughout the deck.

"How could you bring that abomination on board? Shepard you know how dangerous this is."

"Tali, that abomination saved our lives. We'd all be husk fodder right now if it wasn't for it. It's deactivated right now and I haven't decided if we're going to switch it back on yet, so relax."

The two argued for some time, the rest of the crew watching the heated debate anxiously. Rea tuned them out as she walked around the deactivated Geth. It was only the second time she had seen one, the first being when she'd been recovered from the Cerberus base all those months ago. It was a technological wonder, though she could easily see how it created such fear in the Quarian. As she studied the metal frame, and the strange N7 armor welded to the surface, Rea noticed the smear of blood that was initially hidden by the red of the armor. She looked up sharply, looking at Shepard who was the most obvious, and almost as quickly as she looked she dismissed the Commander as the owner of the blood. Zaeed was also standing nearby and appeared uninjured, which left…

Rea hissed angrily and looked around for Thane. He was nowhere to be found and she strode off to the Med bay, hoping he was already in there being treated. Dr. Chakwas looked up from her desk and Audrea as she entered. Thane was obviously not there. She had the urge to panic, but years of practice in stuffing that urge prevailed. Audrea ripped open a drawer and gathered a few items as a curious Chakwas looked on.

She stormed off towards life support, muttering to herself about the stubborn stupidity of men no matter what the species. She'd encountered this all too often back on earth; soldiers injured wouldn't seek treatment, whether it be out of pride or fear and would decide to go lick their wounds in private.

The door to Thane's quarters slid open and she approached and her anger, along with the blood in her face, drained out of her as she entered. Thane was pulling off his leather jacket and an angry gash was dripping blood down his side. He looked up as she walked in and she was satisfied he at least had the good grace to have a sheepish look on his face.

Afraid her voice would give out on her if she started chastisement, Rea simply pointed to the cot and ordering him to sit down with a single motion. He complied without argument, his dark eyes holding hers as he sat. Audrea did her best to ignore who she was working on and concentrated on the wound, flushing it out carefully. She ripped open the suture kit she'd pilfered from the med bay and steadily set to the task of sewing him up. It took eighteen stitches but Rea was done quickly, she hadn't used any anesthetics while she worked and he had only grunted once while she worked. As she slathered his side in Medi-gel and wrapped up his side for protection she admonished him angrily.

"You fool, why would you ignore an injury and hide in your room? You know better. You know if you lose too much blood it'll only worsen your disease. You're body needs it all to carry your oxygen, and if you…" Rea's words faltered off as the lump in her throat choked her.

Thane's fathomless eyes were still on her as she trailed off. She threw the remains of her supplies across the room, both angry and relieved at the same time. She stood from her kneeling position and turned to storm out of the room, but Thane's hand shot out to catch her wrist. He stood carefully and wrapped his arms around, pulling her into a tight embrace. The last of Audrea's rage melted away from her and she returned the hug, mindful of the side she'd just fixed.

"I was frightened."

Rea looked up at him confused and searching for further explanation.

"I haven't been frightened for my own safety in many years, but when I was rushed by a horde of husks and pinned to the ground I was frightened. I was scared I'd be one more person to die on you in an untimely manner. I was scared I'd never see you again and that we'd never have a chance before we even really had an opportunity to start. I intend to fix that right now."

Audrea opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but as he mouth covered hers his intention was quite clear. His tongue delved into her mouth and he hands roamed her body freely. Her hands clutched his shoulders tightly as he pulled her to the cot. His intensity made the blood in her veins thrum in appreciation but the reasonable physician in her protested and she had to give voice to the concerns.

"But, your injury, you shouldn't…"

"You fixed me up just fine, hush." Thane's mouth buried into the crook of her neck and nibbled carefully down its length. Audrea gasped in appreciation, enjoying the shivers it sent down her spine and the warmth that was spreading from her core. His actions banished the last of the pragmatic doctor and the primal woman took over.

Thane paused briefly to lock the door, remembering the last door they forgot to lock, and in a flurry of fabric they undressed each other. Audrea traced the lines of the muscles in his shoulders with her fingers as he trailed kisses down her chest. He drew her breast into his mouth and she arched her back, thrusting her body towards him in response.

He teased her body for some time, the sub-tones of his voice thrumming pleasantly in her chest the whole time. It wasn't long before he had her sweaty and gasping in desire.

Just when she thought she couldn't take his teasing any longer he seemed to sense her frustration and pulled himself back up her body until they were face to face again. She had one hand wrapped around his shoulder and the other holding the small of his back tightly as he slid into her. His head titled down to touch her forehead and Audrea's eyes rolled back into her head as the pleasure of him filling her took over.

They took their time, enjoying each other's bodies and longing that neither had realized had existed for so long was banished. In the end they fell asleep in each other's arms, a sweaty combination of limbs and satisfaction.

_**Break**_

Audrea awoke from a dreamless sleep and stretched languidly with a rare feeling of contentment curled deep in her. Her green eyes fluttered open, and for the first time in months she felt cleared headed. The fog of a thousand dreams had lifted for a short time and the Audrea that had buried beneath the years of tragedy was floating at the surface. The strange hallucinatory effect of prolonged contact with Thane did enhance how vivid her seer dreams were, but it had a strange counter-effect by dispelling the fogginess that those dreams left her in the rest of the day. She felt almost normal.

A small laugh bubbled from her lips as she looked to her side and saw Thane lying next to her. His left arm was stretched above him, giving her a little extra room on his small cot, and he was using his forearm as a pillow. His right hand was resting lightly on his bare chest and his eyes were shut.

At first Rea thought he was still sleeping but as the laugh slipped from her mouth she saw his open and his familiar micro-smile settled on his lips.

"Do you ever sleep?" She questioned as she stared into his inky eyes.

"My kind does not require as much sleep as humans do. A few hours of rest are sufficient." He replied the tiny smile holding as he spoke.

Audrea regarded him thoughtfully and her smile changed slightly.

"I'm not the best at interpreting human expression, what is that look?"

"I'm just amazed, not for the first time, over the diversity the universe has created. Sometimes it's just the smallest thing that makes me speechless."

Thanes smile slipped away as he studied her.

"I'm not to alien for you am I? We…things were sudden between us and we never stopped to consider our differences."

The earnestness in Thane's expression took Rea by surprise. Their differences were something she had only paid a small amount of attention to. There had been so many things that tilted her world upside down, that her attraction to a kindred spirit were one of the normal things in her life, even with the fact that spirit happened to be a lovely shade of green. Audrea was feeling playful and considered teasing him for a while, but the longer she held silent the more she could feel an aura of distress building around him.

"There's a human sentiment that 'opposites attract'. It was true for my parents; my father was a politician very dry humored and practical and had a defined sense of right and wrong. My mother was free spirited and could find humor in just about everything. She was a bit eccentric and didn't see things in the black and white way my father did. They were polar opposites, but it was that which made them so great. I can't imagine a life without the practicality of my father to hone my mind, I never would have become a surgeon without that, just as I can't imagine a life without my mother's whimsy, I never would have fallen in love with music, or become a rock hound without it. There is a great strength in combining differences."

A steady hum started deep in Thane's chest as he lowered the arm he had been using as a pillow around her. He pulled her in close and hugged her tight.

"You worry too much Thane. I was speaking in a scientific sense with my amazement of the universal differences." Audrea grinned at him as the thrum in his chest deepened.

"So, tell me about these differences that intrigue you so much."

"There are so many. I've spent half my life becoming deeply intimate with the inner workings of human physiology. I know that better than anything else, and I find it amazing how close the skeletal structure of many of the species is the same as ours. The Asari are exactly the same, except for the cranium, and you Drell are also amazingly close. You have 3 extra vertebras in your spine, and lack the 'false ribs' that we humans have. I imagine the combination creates the ability to be extremely flexible."

"Yes, you're correct. It's come in handy in many situations."

"I can imagine. Did you know that the Salarian cranium is one giant fused bone?"

"What do you mean? I thought all skulls were one bone."

"Nope, from what I've learned from my studies of other species any that give live birth have segmented skulls. Take my species for example; the major parts of the cranium are the frontal bone, the parietal bone, the temporal bone and the occipital bone. There are actually twenty-two bones that make up the human skull. It makes birth possible, and as the child grows older the cranium settles into its proper shape and the bones fuse naturally. Salarian's are hatched from eggs so there's no need for the partitioned cranium, so they have one giant cranial bone. It's simply amazing. You Drell also have more muscles then we humans. There's the extra muscle alongside the Sartorius and the Trapezius and also one that extends from your ear ridge alongside the sternocleidomastoids."

Thane's eye's twinkled affectionately as Rea spoke passionately about the topic. He enjoyed listening to her speak, with a voice that was deeper than most human females and strikingly similar to a female Drell's voice, minus the duel tone. At first it had sounded almost flat to him, but as he'd grown to know her better he came to enjoy the subtlety in the inflection of her voice. When she spoke Audrea also used her hands adamantly as she made her points. She continued her physiology lesson, and Thane smiled, enjoying the simple act of conversation. She paused for a brief moment and hauled herself out of his embrace to check his wound. She peeled back the wrap and was pleased with the effect of the Medi-gel. Overnight it had healed his wound in the time it would have taken it to heal over three weeks.

They spent quite some time talking in lover's hushed tones. While most couples would exchange platitudes over the qualities they enjoyed about each other, their conversation varied greatly. Audrea was surprised at what a keen mind the assassin carried with him. She never thought that he was stupid but for someone that spent most of his life in a physical career it was a curiosity to find a brilliant mind. She expressed as much to him and he explained that while the hunt required him to be in top physical form, it depended on his insight into the target and the anticipation of ones actions, which required knowledge of many different aspects of their lives.

The thing that intrigued Thane the most was the variety of religion amongst humans. Most races held one major doctrine, or two with one being fairly outdated. Humans were the only ones in the universe that recognized dozens over their history.

"Yeah, we've held a great determination to discover the truth. Sometimes it's a great strength, but other times it tarnishes the beauty of the mystery of life." Rea laughed slightly, "Not that we ever have figured out the truth."

Time melted away as they enjoyed each other's company, hands trailing absentmindedly over each other's bodies as they discussed the different aspects of their lives that they'd never see again. Eventually it was the loud groan of Audrea's stomach that drove them from the bed.

Thane chuckled in amusement.

"That stomach of yours is never silent."

"Don't I know it. Even if I never use my biotics it still sends me into a ravenous state. I'm surprised it's been silent this long."

They dressed and exited the small haven of the Life Support. As they walked out of the small room Audrea ran headlong into an activated Geth who was walking freely around the Normandy.

"Jesus! Were we in there so long that we missed an invasion?"

Thane used his arm to direct Audrea behind him, eyeing the Geth warily. He knew it was the same unit that he had helped bring on board, and it had killed several of the husks that had pinned him down, allowing Thane to shake off the rest of them, but it didn't mean he trusted it to be walking around the ship.

The Geth's facial flaps flickered as it studied the woman even as she studied him.

"We are Legion. You are Audrea. We have computed many interesting facts and you hold great promise in curing the infection the old machines have brought upon the heretics."

"What the hell?"

At that moment Audrea saw Jack pop around the corner.

"It's about damn time you two came out of there. You missed out on all the fun. We were about to start a pool on how long it was going to take you two to come out of there."

Audrea wasn't easily embarrassed, but was caught off guard and felt a flush rise up her neck. Even Thane shifted slightly belaying his discomfort.

"Anyway, this mother fucker is our new crew member, Legion. I still think the Commander has lost her damn mind over it, but she insists it saved you guys back there."

Jack prattled on as they walked toward the mess hall, Legion trailing behind Audrea. She sat at the table, eating her meal contentedly and studying Legion as he studied her.

"It's not very polite when you stare like that Legion. Kinda creepy too."

"Apologies."

"It's alright, just go…stare at someone else for a while so I can eat."

Legion turned 180 degrees so his back was to her, but didn't move and inch after that. Thane laughed softly next to her as Audrea shook her head ruefully. She finished her meal with the rest of her thoughts on what the Geth had said, wondering what other oddities the universe had in store for her.


	18. The Harvest

Audrea's dreams shifted, leaving her breathless again. For nights she'd been plagued by a constant stream of visions, that she could only assume were related to their quickly approaching journey through the Omega 4 relay. There was generally a glimmer of hope, something she knew she could speak of and change, but it was one death scene after another. It would flash and they would be through the relay. A beam would rip through the ship, killing Jack. Engineering would explode, shredding the mechanical parts of Legion. The worst was the sight of Thane being impaled with a beam from the ship, through his chest. Each time this happened it felt as if it was her chest being speared by the metal. It would never release her there either. She was swept up in events she couldn't control, but could only watch. Grunt carried away by a swarm, which shifted into Garrus and then Zaeed. Jacob shot through the gut, which shifted into Tali. Samara's broken body lay on the ground as Kelly and Dr. Chakwas ran frantically toward the Normandy. That confused Audrea, why would they even be there?

One dream after another would come, never leaving her in peace. She saw the entire crew she'd grown to regard closely killed in one manner after another. Jacob one moment would be bleeding his life out only to be burned to a crisp a moment later. Miranda would be carried away by a swarm and in moments she would be crushed under the weight next to Garrus.

Each night she'd wake up in a terrified sweat, gasping desperately for breath that wanted to come far too slow. Some nights Thane would be beside her, offering quiet comfort as she tried to wrestle the hot tears that spilled from her eyes under control.

Her dreams had become more vivid with a steady flow of the Drell chemical in her system and her head had cleared significantly during her waking hours. She appreciated the ironic fact that she felt like she'd come out of a drug induced fog, but Rea hated that she had to live through her comrades deaths multiple times every night. Then there were the headaches that were forming behind her eyes when she woke. Dr. Chakwas was keeping a careful eye on her brain activity and chemical levels, but it was an entirely unique situation. The oddity of the amount of element zero in her cells combined with the hallucinatory effect of Thane's biochemical was something that was unprecedented, so neither of them were sure what to look for, but knew that it was something that needed some consideration, especially with the throbbing in her head.

Rea told Shepard about the string of death dreams after the third night. The Commander grilled her thoroughly, wanting to know every detail Audrea could remember. She gave them willingly, sometimes drawing pictures of doors she had seen. They spoke for hours, trying to piece together oncoming events, the pinch of worry creased between Shepard's eyes. Some of the worries were eased by the upgrades the Commander had been installing on the ship steadily over the last few months. Her experience with the Collector ship tearing through the first Normandy had demanded it. Audrea tried to explain the intuition she felt from the dream, but as usual her words fell short. All she could do was try and convey to Shepard that there would be decisions in the close future, and she'd have to use all her wisdom as a leader to choose.

Things progressed quickly from there. Shepard had not only brought back their strange Geth comrade from the derelict Collector ship, but also the Reaper IFF they needed to make it through the relay. The whole thing had been a trap. The ship had been playing lame to lure them in, and the Illusive Man had known it the whole time. Shepard had stormed out of the meeting with the freak-eyed bastard, venom practically dripping from her mouth. Even Miranda was fuming at this latest betrayal.

Audrea sat quietly, pondering the connections as she watched the animate conversation around her. She reflected on the dream she'd had the night before amid the flurry of death scenes and was curious on its timing. It had been an adaptation of Julius Caesar she had seen in boarding school, complete with the wooden scenery of pillars, only Shepard was Caesar and the Illusive man was the treacherous Brutus stabbing the Commander in the back. There was something strange about Shepard's face that Audrea couldn't quite figure out. The context of the dream was obvious, he was a betrayer, but it was the timing that had her unsettled. Why would she have a dream after the betrayal had already happened? There was more to it though. It wasn't often her prophetic dreams came using clips of her memory. She'd never been big into Shakespeare, so she tried to remember what she could of it. Brutus betrayed Caesar, all for the greater good of Rome. She was certain there was more to come.

She lifted her voice into the heated discussion.

"This won't be the last time he betrays you Shepard."

Several pairs of eyes focused on her.

"Explain." Shepard commanded with one word.

Rea inhaled, trying once again to figure out a way to put into words the knowledge of her dreams.

"I don't know when and I don't know how, but I know he'll do it again and he'll think that he's in the right doing it."

The Commander frowned as she paced carefully around the room.

"Is there anything more you can tell me, Rea?"

Audrea shook her head, "That's all I know right now. Maybe when it gets closer…" She shrugged, wishing there was more she could give.

"If you get anything else, let me know. I'm ready to take that man's cigarettes and shove it up his ass."

Rea nodded as Shepard moved off to speak to Joker. The IFF was being installed, so he suggested that they take the shuttle for the next mission. There were a few kinks that needed to be worked out, but the whole crew needed to stock up on supplies and a few necessities before they headed through the relay. Audrea was staying on the ship as usual. There was little she needed and ever since her encounter with Kai Leng on Mount Delphi she felt like he was just biding his time, waiting for her to let her guard down. She opted to stay on the ship.

The normal chaos of the crew mobilizing filled the ship, and in the madness someone knocked off a coffee cup off the counter. It shattered on the floor, brow liquid splattering.

Audrea frowned, the image of the cup tickling her memory.

The crew packed onto the shuttle, anxious to be on their way and as the airlock doors closed Shepard called out.

"Leave the light on, but don't wait up."

It was random and Audrea could see the small curve of a smile on her lips. It also set warning bells of in Audrea's head. First the coffee cup then the phrase from a dream not so long ago. She wasn't looking forward to finding out about the smell that still lingered in her nose.

A sense of dread was steadily building as Audrea stood in the cockpit with Joker, watching the shuttle fly off into the darkness of space.

_**BREAK**_

Audrea retired early, trying to shake the feeling of foreboding. It never took her long to fall asleep but it seemed that tonight as soon as she closed her eyes she was floating through her dream world. For some time she floated through the inky blackness that always reminded her of the void of space that she stared at through the observation window. The nightly barrage of deaths spilled into her mind and Rea gritted her teeth, trying to ride out the storm. The blood, the screams of pain, and the anguish of losing a comrade filled her sleep. Suddenly the scenery changed and she was offered a respite from the overwhelming images.

In an instant she was standing in vineyard, and orange sun blazing brightly overhead. Neat rows of grape vines stretched for miles in front of her, fruit hanging heavy on the vine. The smell of rich earth filled her nostrils and she could feel a faint breeze blowing lightly on her skin. It was beautiful and peaceful here. It reminded her of a trip she'd taken with her parents in Tuscany when she was still young.

She walked through the neat rows, feeling the crispness of the leaves under her fingertips. A lark flew overhead chirping cheerfully at her. Audrea laughed lightly enjoying the quality of her dream. After almost a week of dark, smothering dreams she was blessed with something full of peace and beauty.

Audrea closed her eyes and lifted her face toward the sun, soaking up the warmth. She realized it had been months since she had planted her feet on the surface of a planet. The only time since being rescued from Cerberus was on Delphi.

A cloud passed overhead and a flight of birds took off squawking franticly, fleeing into the far distance. Audrea looked up at the cloud only to see the shape of the Normandy flying slowly above her. A pulse was filling the air; it wasn't a sound but she could feel it to the core of her bones. When she looked back down she was surrounded by workers clothed in ancient garb that looked like it belonged in a medieval painting. They were steadily picking the bushels of grapes off the vine, regardless if they were ripe or not. The pickers were a stark contrast to the beautiful land surrounding them. They were filthy, and hollowed eyed, and as the wind shifted the smell that had be haunting her for day filled her nostrils.

Rea's heart rate quickened and her breath came rapidly as she realized the dream was shifting. She followed the workers as the collected their fruit and made their way down the long rows. There was a large pavilion where they were convening and pouring their harvest into a large tub that she recognized as one that was used for making wine. She watched them smash the fruit vigorously, but as the juice came trickling out the spigot, it wasn't the deep purple of crushed grapes, but the bright crimson of fresh blood. The smell thickened in her nose until it almost choked her and she started to cough, trying the clear some of it out of her body. The noise drew the workers attention and they all simultaneously looked up at her, and moved toward her, arms stretched out with grape sheers in their hands. Audrea whirled to flee, but more workers were around her. She knew she was in real trouble, and knew instinctually that she had to get away.

She smashed her boot into the side of a worker's knee, making him fall silently to the ground, and creating an opening for her to bolt through. Audrea ran as fast as she could through the rows of the vineyard, watching as the plants around her shrivel rapidly. The once lush landscape was now barren and dead. The wind picked up blowing up the dirt beneath her feet. It swirled around her stinging her eyes, and she raised her forearms trying to protect her face. She was in a full on dust storm, and she couldn't see a foot in front of her. The workers hands reached out of the dirty clouds and grasped her, and she knew this was her death.

Suddenly Audrea jerked out of her sleep, gasping for air and still trying to thrash her way out of the hands that clutched at her. She was soaked in sweat and her heart thundered in her chest. She reached for Thane only to suddenly realize that he was gone along with the rest of the crew. Rea pulled her knees up and rested her forehead against them, trying to rein her erratic heart rate under control. Steadily she breathed through her nose and slowly blew the air out of her mouth, thankful for the different exercises Thane had taught her.

Once she had calmed, Audrea snapped her head up aware of the significance of the dream.

"EDI!"

"Yes, Audrea?"

"There's something wrong with the Normandy."

"Mr. Moreau and I just finished with the installation of the IFF, I've been detecting an outgoing transmission Jeff was convinced was white noise, how did you know?"

Audrea paused for a moment, but before she could say anything EDI was speaking again.

"Audrea the transmission was to the Collector ship. We are about to be boarded."

Rea cursed loudly and sprung out of bed, pausing just long enough to pull on pants over her bare legs. She was about to shove her feet into her boots when she felt an explosion the Normandy. It knocked her off her feet, and her boot went flying across the room. Her haphazard time line she had pasted across the room fluttered to the room, dislodged by the force. Audrea disregarded her boots, opting to go barefoot over wasting the time. At this moment she much preferred a weapon to foot protection. The door slid open in front of her and she peered out carefully. The Collectors were already on the ship. Their bulbous heads gleamed in the artificial light and a wave of air blasted Audrea in the face. She coughed as the smell threatened to choke her; the smell that had been lingering in her memory. The support crew left on board was trying to resist, but they weren't combatants and were easily overwhelmed. They were dragged away screaming, and those that resisted were executed on the spot. They were harvesting their bounty.

Audrea growled deep in her throat, wishing she had a weapon, but a swarm of hostiles stood between her and the weapons locker. The noise she made drew the attention of one of the Collectors and it started to advance on her. Knowing she was outmatched, Audrea retreated into her room, locking it behind her. She cursed again; it was only a matter of time before they would be through the door.

Audrea's eyes scanned the room, searching for something that would help. They landed on the air shaft above her bed. Her fingers flew rapidly unscrewing the grate and in moments she was through the opening crawling through the tight squeeze. It was just in time; the door burst open behind her, her pursuer advancing into the room.

She wriggled through the air shaft, thankful she wasn't any larger. A hand grasped her ankle as her legs disappeared into the vent. Reacting instantly she lashed out with her opposing leg, connecting solidly to its face. It hissed and let go of her leg while Audrea retreated further into the vent. Once she was at a safe distance she collected her thoughts, trying to establish a plan. She needed a weapon first; she'd been practicing steadily with her biotic shields, and experimenting with different techniques that she thought would be useful in a medical way, like the filter she'd used on Tali. Now she was desperately wishing she'd worked on the offensive abilities that she had yet to even form.

Audrea crawled through the vent, pausing when she came to a junction, to the right she thought would be the restrooms, so she continued forward, picturing in her mind what come ahead. Blood curdling screams echoed through air ducts as she crawled as people were either killed or captured. A thought came to her quickly and she smiled in satisfaction. Thane's room would be ahead a few junctions and he was certain to have something lying around. She'd seen his myriad of weapons, carefully maintained and placed in their cases. Sure he was on the shuttle with Shepard, likely with his best on him, but there would be something. There had to be something.

She quickly approached the vent she thought was her destination, and scrutinized through the grate. It was Life Support, and she studied it further to make sure the invaders weren't inside. It seemed clear, but she hoped that they had already searched this room. Now came the difficult part. She didn't have any boots on to help kick the grate out, and didn't relish the idea of mangling her feet. Maybe her wrists would be slender enough to slip through the slates. As she reached out to try, the lattice fell easily away from the wall. Rea sighed in appreciated relief; of course Thane had already planned an escape route, it was probably something he had done when he first boarded the ship, replacing the grate for looks only.

She quickly pulled herself out of the duct and lowered herself carefully down. Audrea didn't even need to do a thorough search of the room. She grabbed a pistol from a case and stuck it in her waist band at the small of her back and strapped a large knife to her belt. Finally she picked up an assault rifle that was primed and ready to go. She jumped as EDI's voice echoed from the station.

"Audrea you must get to the engine room. Jeff has already connected me to the Normandy's core control systems and is on the way to the engine room to restart the power core so I can gain control of the ship and purge the virus that has stalled us. As soon as I have control I shall be jumping the ship to safety and opening all the air locks to expunge the invaders. The engine room will be the only safe place. There is a shaft to it through the AI core."

"I hear you EDI. Thanks for the head up."

Rea took a deep, solid breath while she checked the thermal clip on the rifle. Time was short and she needed to get moving. She burst through the door, catching a Collector off guard as she blasted him in the face with several rounds and rushed down the hall, barely glancing to make sure her target was dead. With the shots, she knew any nearby enemies would be alerted. She rounded the corner and it was a straight shot to the med bay and the AI core beyond. In the middle of the walk way was an injured crewman, with a vicious wound to his abdomen. Without a second thought she slid to his side. With one hand holding the rifle she pushed her other hand down on the wound to try and staunch the bleeding. Subconsciously she knew it was futile but she couldn't leave the poor man. He looked up at her with pleading eyes; his sandy hair was plastered against his forehead with a combination of sweat and blood. Audrea set her borrowed rifle on the floor next to her, careful to keep it in reach. She used her free arm to pull the man into her lap, cradling his head carefully. Blood was speckled on his lips as they worked silently, almost like a fish pulled from its aquatic home. Audrea recognized him, feeling guilty she couldn't remember his name. They had chatted briefly a few times and he'd always been pleasant and polite.

"Shh, it's alright. I got you." She spoke the words to him gently. It had been years since she held a wounded man in her arms, but it was just as heart wrenching as she remembered. There was nothing quite like having extensive knowledge, and knowing there was absolutely nothing she could do except comfort a dying soldier as he passed from this life.

"Audrea you have ten seconds." Edi's voice echoed through the corridors.

She looked up, blinking back tears that had started to form. Her eyes widening as she saw a pair of Scion's rounding the corner ten feet from her. Her muscles were locked, and she knew she was in a desperate spot. There was no time to get to engineering now, and there was no way she could let the nameless man suffer alone as enemies barreled down. Rea gritted her teeth, layering up her shields and preparing for the worst. She put all her energy and concentration into her biotic creation, making them as dense as she possibly could. She anchored them into the metal of the floor, and hoped her mental calculations weren't off.

"I am sorry Audrea, I cannot wait any longer."

"I'll be alright EDI, just do it." She hoped her words were true.

The air around her exploded as EDI opened all the air locks. The Scions were sucked out of the Normandy in an instant. Audrea grimaced as she curled around the dying man, holding him tightly. She felt the relentless pull of space on her shields but was thankful they were dense enough to hold the small amount of oxygen she had trapped in her small bubble. Unfortunately she was slowly being inched forward from the force of the pull. Thankfully EDI closed all the hatches, sealing the inexorable pull of the cosmos.

Audrea unbent herself from her charge, and looked down into his now passive face. His eyes were glassy and he'd already passed into the great beyond. A lump was thick in her throat as she stared at the dead man.

"Audrea, I still read your life signs. I am glad you were able to keep yourself from being expunged from the ship with the enemy."

Rea only spent a moment trying to reply but found that for the moment, she was unable to make her voice work through the thickness in her throat. She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, disappearing into meditation while she still held the lifeless crewmember.

_**BREAK**_

EDI had saved the ship and Audrea and Joker's lives, but the rest of the men and women on board had been abducted by the Collectors, or killed in the fight. In a matter of hours the shuttle had returned to the Normandy, the rest of the crew debarking with grim looks on their faces.

"Joker, what the hell happened!" Shepard demanded as she marched off the shuttle.

He explained the whole thing, his voice devoid of its usual playfulness. The IFF had been booby-trapped with a virus that allowed the Collectors free access to take control of the ship and seize the entire crew.

"Everyone?"

Joker hung his head, not needing to answer. The look on his face was enough to let Shepard know the truth.

"Audrea is still on board, but she…" Joker wasn't sure how to finish.

Thane's normally stoic visage took on a stricken look and even with his green tint he looked ashen. They made their way down to the crew deck where Audrea still knelt with the corpse. Her eyes were shut, and her shields were still active, but the runes etched across her skin, which were normally hidden, were pulsing strongly with an intense blue light.

"She's been like this since I found her. I don't even know how she managed to not be spaced. EDI sealed engineering but opened the rest of the ship."

"Audrea created a dense enough shield to contain the oxygen she needed during the evacuation and with enough weight to resist the pull of space." EDI stated in her straightforward manner.

Thane went to reach out to Audrea but was unable to get through her shields.

"Audrea, you need to open your eyes and look at me."

Her green eyes snapped open at the phrase, Thane unaware of the significance. Her biotic shields vanished and the runes in her skin vanished. A tortured look crossed her face as she looked at Thane. He knelt beside her, drawing her into a reassuring embrace, disregarding the blood and viscera that had dried on her clothing. He pulled her away from the corpse, motioning for someone to remove the body.

"I should have seen it sooner. I could have stopped this." Audrea sobbed into Thane's shoulder. "The dream woke me but it was already happening."

"Don't blame yourself. You can't control when or how you see things." Shepard interrupted before Thane was able to say anything.

"But they took everyone. I should have known."

"We'll get them back. Joker set course for the relay. It's time we end this."


	19. To the City of Dis

Audrea stood under the searing water of the shower, palms pressed against the metal of the wall and head hanging low. It rained on the back of her head and dripped off the tip of her nose as she leaned. She watched the water turn from the crimson of congealed blood to a faded pink as it rinsed down the drain, and tried to ignore the pounding in her head. It had first started when she awoke hours before to the boarding enemy, but the adrenaline rush had pushed it to the far recesses of her brain. She winced and closed her eyes tightly, not noticing as fresh blood trickled from her nose to join the old blood of the crewman. Charles Brinkley; that had been the name of the man she wasn't able to save. She was still trying to figure out why it bothered her so much.

When she had been a young physician, still in her internship, a quick lesson had been that not everyone lived. It didn't matter how talented you were, how scientifically advanced your clinic was, or how hard you prayed. Death was as much of a part of life as birth. This lesson was driven home multiple times on the battlefield, where there were times death seemed to be all there was to life. This had been a lesson that reached even as far back as her childhood, and the ill-fated day that turned her into an orphan. She sighed heavily, switching the water off after she felt the intensity of the heat was going to finally flay her skin away.

Wrapping herself in a towel, she wiped the fog from the mirror and frowned when she saw the last trace of blood on her face. She rubbed the remnants off with her thumb and finished dressing. Rea exited the bathroom and made her way to the med bay to get some pain killers for her head. The doors swished open and she felt the absence of the kidnapped crew to her core. Without Dr. Chakwas steady presence in the room, and the rest of the crew with their ambient sounds, it seemed she could feel the echo of her emotions resounding loudly in the eerie stillness of the halls. Not wanting to dwell on the absence Rea quickly found a bottle of pills in a cabinet, popped a couple in her mouth, and pocketed the container in case two didn't cut it.

The last of the crew were holed up, preparing themselves for the oncoming battle, sending letters to loved ones, cleaning weapons, praying to whatever gods they kept, or whatever else they felt like they needed to do. Thane was sending a message to his son. He had been reluctant to leave her alone, but Rea insisted he send that message. The relationship between him and his son might be strained but it still existed, and Rea knew that if she had her children to send a message to, she'd want to spend what might be her last night telling them everything she could.

Audrea felt lost for a moment, feeling the displacement in time. Everyone she'd ever known died decades ago and there was no one left to mourn her if they all perished. There wouldn't be anyone but a handful of people that even knew she had existed. She felt selfish for harboring such feelings but there was a small part of her that wished there was someone she'd have to remember her.

After a few minutes the painkillers kicked in and training took over banishing the wave of self-pity. There were people around to remember her; they all just happened to be on this ship. She'd just have to make sure she did everything in her power to make sure they survived. She found a field bag stashed in a cabinet and started loading it up with supplies. Medi-gel, bandages, suture kits, forceps, fluids for multiple races, adrenaline shots, and many other things but when she was finished she had a medical bag full of many of the items she carried with her squad back on Earth, plus more than a few items that she would have killed for back then. She hefted the bag up, judging its weight. It was heavy but manageable and lighter than the survival gear she had to tote with her all those years ago.

When she was finished she stashed the bag in her room, next to her armor and the rifle she had snatched from Thane's room during the ships invasion, which he insisted she keep. Rea stood in her room, staring at the four walls that were barely larger than a closet. Her dream map had been scattered, sucked from the Normandy. Only a couple notes had managed to stay adhered to the walls when EDI expelled the Collectors. A grim feeling was growing deeper in her. This place she had been dropped in had become her home, something she hadn't experience since she was a child. She'd spent the two years prior to this in an Alliance hospital and a prison camp, and several years before that mobile with her platoon, men and women she had regarded as family. Before that she'd had places where she lived, apartments, houses, and the boarding school, but not one of them had been home. That hadn't existed since her time at her family's estate, when her parents were still alive. This place, this ship had become her home and these people, human and alien alike, had become her family. She had felt safe tucked away in her little corner and in a matter of hours all of that had changed and it a few more hours it would all change again.

Audrea sighed and raked her hand through her still damp hair. She needed rest but she was too tense to sleep. Visions reverberated in her mind, all the possibilities that lay before them as they headed toward the Omega 4 relay, and she didn't want to spend what might be her last few hours asleep. Rea grabbed the guitar the old man in the antique store had given her what seemed like an age ago. Somehow it had managed not to get sucked out of the ship; she had found it safe in its case, lodged tightly between the wall and the leg frame of her bed. She ambled to the observation deck and settled onto a couch.

Plucking her fingers over the strings, Rea let her mind wander and tried to center herself; a different sort of mediation. The melody floated through the room and Rea closed her eyes enjoying the sound. She wasn't playing any particular song. It was a sort of blend of songs she'd heard over the years, haunting and full of melancholy. She let the sounds fill her and floated along the river of music. With her eyes still closed tight, Audrea thought she saw flashes of the people that had come to mean so much to her. There was a smile here and there. It almost felt like a dream, but she knew she was still awake. Somewhere along her melodious journey the headache returned, a small throb in the back of her head. It wasn't as intense as it had been so she barely noticed it. Audrea became aware there was a keening in the distance. It was soft and she couldn't figure out what it was, but before long it had disappeared. She didn't know how long she was playing but suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently.

Audrea's hands stilled, and she pressed her palm against the strings, eliminating the last of the sounds. She craned her neck up and slightly back already knowing who it was, and saw Thane standing behind her. He had the hint of a smile on his lips but she could see the traces of worry in his eye with his second eyelids partially closed.

"Your music is beautiful, if a little melancholy." He said softly as he sat next to her.

"I heard once that 'Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life'. I suppose that's especially true for me today. Only, I suppose its more blood than dust." She replied, flickering a half-hearted smile toward him.

"That's a… interesting way to look at it." Thane answered, but the concern in his eyes hadn't vanished.

"What's wrong?" she queried. Her emotions did feel like they were on a teeter totter but collecting her equipment and the music had done a lot to stabilize how she felt.

Thane took a moment before he spoke, examining her carefully with his eyes.

"I spoke several times and you didn't hear me,' He said in a steady voice, 'and you are glowing again." He lifted her arm up to eye level and Audrea could see what he meant. The faint traces of the runes were etched out in her skin, slowly fading away.

Audrea frowned slightly, uncertain what to think. There was still so much that she didn't understand about how she was change. Finally she gave up trying to think anything about it and just shrugged, changing the subject.

"You're finished with your message." It was more a statement than a question.

"Yes, it was good to say some of the things that I didn't say when we last spoke." Audrea could tell by the soft hum in his voice he wasn't allowing her to veer the conversation off. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm not quite sure. A bit unsteady still, I guess. I know logically that there was nothing I could do to save the crew, the dream came too late, but it doesn't stop the feeling that I was responsible for their safety. That man, Charles, he died in my arms and it rocked me. There's been so many alterations in my live; the time travel, the biological changes, the visions, pretty much the whole universe I guess through it all I forgot that I'm still just human." Audrea rubbed the back of her neck uncertainly. "And I have a headache that won't go away."

"Hmm," Thane thrummed gently, "There's something I can at least do about that." Audrea quirked an eyebrow at him, and realized she'd spent far too much time around soldiers when she was expecting a perverse response.

He settled on the seat next to her and directed her to turn her back to him. She did and as he placed her hands at the base of her neck, she groaned in appreciative relief. His deadly, strong hands turned gentle as he kneaded the muscles of her shoulder and neck. The tension and stress of the day seemed to melt away as Thane worked his magic, and soon Audrea's headache had disappeared again. All the adrenaline also faded and she was starting to feel the exhaustion creep in. When he finished Rea leaned back against his chest and laid the back of her head against the curve of his shoulder.

"Where'd you learn to do that? Seems like a strange talent for an assassin."

"There are five different spots there that I could have used to kill or incapacitate you. It's not a far stretch to tension release." She couldn't see his face from her position but she could hear the smile in his voice.

Audrea laughed softly. She should have known that it was something formed from his deadly gifts.

"For as much as we're alike, you also seem to be my antithesis." She remarked as she idly trailed her fingers over the smooth skin of his hand.

"I don't follow."

"Well there are our similarities; we've both lost the people we loved and missed our children growing up before our eyes. We both have strong visions, and that seems to be part of where it shifts. Yours are of the past and mine are of the future. You've been trained to kill but can also use your hands to heal, whereas I've been trained to heal but that knowledge can also be used to kill. You're green, I'm kinda pink." She grinned at him during the last part. A soft chuckle slipped out and he gave her a tight hug. "You're my balance, Thane."

They spent some time together reminiscing on their pasts. The hours ticked down, and soon they were both yawning.

"We should get some rest." She remarked as Thane's jaw popped during a particularly wide yawn.

"Indeed, but before we do I want to hear you play."

Rea was a bit surprised, but obliged him by picking up the guitar off the floor, plucking the strings out of habit to see if they were still in tune.

"Umm…any requests?"

"Whatever you were playing when I walked in was intriguing."

Audrea took a moment to recall, and then began moving her fingers lightly over the cat-gut. After a few measures she added lyrics in her throaty alto.

_When I look into your eyes_  
_It's like watching the night sky_  
_Or a beautiful sunrise_  
_Well, there's so much they hold_  
_And just like them old stars_  
_I see that you've come so far_  
_To be right where you are_  
_How old is your soul?_

_Well, I won't give up on us_  
_Even if the skies get rough_  
_I'm giving you all my love_  
_I'm still looking up_

_And when you're needing your space_  
_To do some navigating_  
_I'll be here patiently waiting_  
_To see what you find_

_'Cause even the stars they burn_  
_Some even fall to the earth_  
_We've got a lot to learn_  
_God knows we're worth it_  
_No, I won't give up_

_I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily_  
_I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make_  
_Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use_  
_The tools and gifts we got yeah, we got a lot at stake_  
_And in the end, you're still my friend at least we did intend_  
_For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn_  
_We had to learn how to bend without the world caving in_  
_I had to learn what I've got, and what I'm not_  
_And who I am_

_I won't give up on us_  
_Even if the skies get rough_  
_I'm giving you all my love_  
_I'm still looking up_  
_Still looking up._

The last few notes echoed gently in the room and they enjoyed a few moments more of companionship before they retired.

_**BREAK**_

The Normandy was rocked hard as it took another hit from a beam. Audrea swore she could feel her feet lift up off the ground as the world shook. They had jumped, speeding out of the relay fast and hard into the midst of a metal graveyard that bore a strong resemblance to the one she had seen in her dreams, what seemed like years before. Joker's expert piloting maneuvered them through debris but they had collected a tail of defensive drones.

She clung to the railing as the Normandy was weaving defensively. It was only a few heartbeats but the moments seemed to stretch forever. There was a shriek of an energy cannon shot at them and an explosion Audrea could hear even as it was swallowed by the void of space and through the thick walls of the ship. Joker was cheering but it was almost immediately they were back to their nauseating bob and weave.

Suddenly Audrea was pitched into the wall as the Normandy slid to a grinding halt. She grunted as her shoulder took the brunt of the force. She righted herself as quickly as she could, ignoring the slight throbbing pain from the impact.

In a flurry of movement the team was out the hatch. Shepard tossed orders about and Joker, with EDI's help went to fixing the ship for their hopeful return trip. Audrea was strapping her pack to her back and checking her rifle when the Commander saw her.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm coming with, of course."

"Absolutely not, if they got ahold of you…a future-telling drone, that's just what the enemy needs. Stay here with Joker and guard the ship where it's safe."

Audrea narrowed her eyes.

"No offense Shepard, but no. If you hadn't noticed, we've crash landed on an enemy base. Nowhere is safe. There's no safer place then with the team. Besides, you need to utilize my visions to get us all out alive. If It comes to it, I'll put a bullet in my own head before I let them take me."

"Commander…" Garrus thrummed in a warning tone. Audrea couldn't tell if he was on her side or not, but after a few seconds longer of thought, Shepard had made up her mind.

"Fine, but stay glued to my hip."

Audrea nodded her assent and off the team sped. They maneuvered through the base expertly and Rea found her blood pounding in her veins in a familiar manner. She kept her head low and tossed up barriers and shields with her biotics whenever it was possible. She pointed out familiar passageways that she'd seen in her dreams and booby traps she recognized.

In a stroke of luck they stumbled upon their missing crew. They pulled them from giant container. Some were wild with relief while others were in various states of shock. Audrea pulled a pen-light from her pocket and assessed reactions while Shepard questioned a few of the steadier crew members. She had her fingers on a wrist taking a pulse, and asked a few questions to assess the level of orientation on Gabby, who seemed to be in a mild state of shock. Other than a few scrapes and bruises most seemed to be alright.

Shepard tried to send her back to the ship with the rescued prisoners, but Audrea just shook her head again. She knew there was more coming.

"Mordin is more capable than I to lead them back and evaluate if there was any chemical agents added."

The Commander frowned at her again but didn't argue as they sped up again.

Audrea found herself falling into a meditation of shielding and gunshots. She felt a familiar detachment settle on her as she tried to float herself into the memories of all the dreams she'd had. Jacob crawled through the vent as they raced the clock. Samara, with her massive biotic powers, held the shield steady as they crept through the swarm. Wave after wave of enemies attacked, trying to break them as they advanced. Audrea slapped more than a few medi-gels on people, and Tali took a nasty shot to the leg. She stitched her up quickly and flushed her with anti-biotics she and be careful to keep handy.

In the end they found themselves facing a giant human reaper. The rest of the team was disgusted, even horrified at the revelation. Audrea, on the other hand was almost relieved to put a name to the strange face she hadn't realized was weaving its way through her prophetic dreams. In a flurry of thermal shots and careful maneuvering a handful of people destroyed the abomination while the rest held off the waves of enemies that were intent on stopping them.

As the Human-Reaper fell there was a sense of victory that swept through the crew wordlessly, but there was no time for victory cheers. Shepard set the base to self-destruct and they rushed back to the Normandy, climbing on board and speeding away as they rode the shockwave of the blast.

Shepard contacted the Illusive Man one final time, partially as a courtesy to tell him they had succeeded, partially to tell him she was keeping the ship, and mostly to tell him,

"Suck it."

Elation and exuberance filled the air as they traveled toward Alliance space, but there was a heavy stone on Rea's chest. While the rest of the crew was celebrating, her eyes sought out Shepard's and she could tell they had the same concern eating at them. There was still much to be done and there was a war looming on the horizon.

**_A/N: First off I want to welcome all the new followers this story has gathered since August, welcome!=D_**

**_Sooo...I didn't forget about this, but I also didn't anticipate how hard this program was going to kick my ass. I have little time for sleep, much less free time to write, and what little free time I do have I don't exactly like spending at the computer (as I do most days). Blarg. I had the first part of this typed up for like, a month and a half, but I wanted to do the 'suicide mission' with it. Then when I actually got around to doing the mission I realized I didn't really want to write it, so I apologize for how brief, and shoddy it is, but I just wanted to get it out and over with so I could get back to the story I want to write. (my intention has never been to provide a rewrite, and even with Audrea in the story, there's only so much you can do with the mission...they go in, they kick ass or they die, plus I'm kinda crappy at writing action.)_**

**_And sorry for the lyric love, music of course never has the same effect when it's typed out but that damn song is stuck in my head._**

**_Anywho, enough excuses. Next time will be fall out...that will far more fun=D_**

**_I still have lots planned, even if it takes me an eternity to finish, so thank you all for your patience._**

**_Wish me luck with my skills returns coming up. Naso-gastric insertion...scary!_**


	20. Across the Sea

The general feeling of elation had swept over the ship. They had all stared into the face of certain death and not only survived but against all odds, they'd brought back the rest of the crew. Rea stood in the med-bay staring out the clear glass with her arms cross over her chest, index finger tapping lightly on her clavicle as she watched a full-tilt celebration explode in the crew area. A few of the less fortunate of the kidnapped crew members were lying on the beds, recovering from exhaustion and shock. Audrea placed her fingers lightly on Chakwas wrist, timing her heart rate. The elder doctor had been struck with an intense panic attack, sending her heart into tachycardia and shooting up her blood pressure. Rea had to dose her up with a sedative to prevent her heart from seizing. She was improving and wasn't showing any signs of regressing, but Audrea wanted to keep an eye on her along with the rest of those they had recovered.

She watched from the room, noting the oddness of watching uninhibited exuberance unfold from the confines of the sound proof infirmary. A small desire to go cut loose with the rest of the crew curled slightly in her, but the more pragmatic part of her still held the reins as she looked forward. They had survived, but there was so much more to come. There were so many things she had seen that still hadn't happened yet.

A dull headache was building in her skull, and the desire to celebrate was quickly dissipating. Audrea was pressing on the bridge of her nose when Shepard strode through the doors. The soft sigh of the mechanism breached the silence of the room, allowing a few moments of laughter flood into the room before they were cut off as the doors closed. The Commander held two beers in her hand, sipping on one as she handed the other to Rea, who smiled gratefully as she accepted the bottle.

Audrea stood shoulder to shoulder with Shepard, and they both stared at the silent picture moving actively through the windows. They both held their own silence for a moment as they watched and Audrea took the opportunity to study the Commander with a sideways glance. She was a little banged up from the assault, but hadn't sustained any serious injuries. There was also a slight flush to her cheeks, but she was by no means as sloshed as some of the rest of the crew they were watching. Audrea blinked in surprise as she thought she heard the steady thump of Shepard's heart. It was for all of ten seconds, and Rea shook her head trying to clear the sound. It dissipated rapidly, and Audrea was left feeling like she was just hearing the throb in her own head.

"How are they doing?" Shepard finally spoke, banishing Rea's curiosity over the sound.

"They'll all be fine, physically at least. Chakwas is a little worse for wear, but she's stable. I'm sure they'll all need extensive counseling to get over the trauma. Being a prisoner is one thing, even being tortured, there's often the small spark of hope, but being held in a tube and aware of the fact that any minute you'll be liquefied to be turned into a portion of an enemy that's out to destroy the rest of the universe, well that's an entirely different matter. That's certainly something that will leave scars."

Shepard looked at Audrea sharply for a moment.

"There are times I forget about the things that happened to you before you came to us."

"Aye, it seems it was several life-times ago. I don't ever forget about them but sometimes it does feel like it happened to a different person, like I read it in a book or watched it in a movie. With them, I can only hope they find a portion of that peace." Audrea gestured at the sedated crew members using the bottle as a prop.

Shepard frowned and her arms crossed over her chest with a hand resting by the curve of her neck in an unintentional mimicry of the pose Audrea had stood in before she had entered.

"Don't worry so, Shepard. We humans are incredibly resilient. A broken bone is stronger at the point of the break, after it is healed. I believe the spirit follows the same rules. '_The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.' "_

"Throwing Hemingway at me?"

"Well, he was a fairly wise man."

Shepard nodded, the look of concern fading, only slightly.

"Just don't worry so much, Commander. They'll be able to manage somehow. They'll just have to take it a day at a time."

The two faltered back into silence for a few moments.

"What's the plan from here?" Audrea asked tentatively.

"We're on our way back to Alliance space. It's time to finally convince the rest of the human race that there is a real threat. Plus, the Normandy needs a good scrubbing. I was picking listening devices out of the walls several times a week, and EDI let me know of twelve more of their bugs, that I hadn't found that she couldn't tell me of with her shackles on."

"It's back to Earth then." Rea stated, an odd sense of apprehension scratching at the surface of her awareness. She had just told Shepard it felt like some of the events of her life happened to another person. It was easier to feel that way knowing it happened on a different planet. Now it was time to connect all her lives. Excitement and trepidation warred with each other over the prospect.

"Yes, it's time to go home." A peculiar look was settled on Shepard's face. The two of them stood together, watching the party from the dark and quiet room, lost in their own thoughts of Earth. Audrea wasn't even aware when the faint sound of several heartbeats crept into her ears.

_**BREAK**_

When Audrea opened her eyes, she was back on the red sands of her dreams. The sun was half hidden by the horizon, slowly sinking into its slumber. The black ocean in front of her was glassy with its stillness but she could see the storm raging in the distance. It seemed it was closer than it was the other time she had dreamt in this place between, but she wasn't sure if her memory was serving her right. A cool breeze picked up from the ocean, making her shiver, and rubbed her arms. The water still remained calm in a manner that defied logic.

Hugging her arms, Audrea spun slowly around looking for a clue to why she was back in this place, hoping she would see the faces of her departed family, and anxious to what words they would carry. On the slopes of the first red dune, she saw the figure of a man. Due to the glaring light of the setting sun, she was unable to discern who it was, but she was able to tell that he was pointing toward her. She tried to walk towards her visitor, but it seemed that no matter how many steps she took in the direction of the sandbank, she never came an inch closer. Rea opened her mouth to call out to him, but a realization swept over her before she spoke. He wasn't aiming towards her; he was directing her out to the sea.

She turned again, faced the tempest and gauged it. Without even realizing it, Audrea had walked forward, and when she finally aroused to her movements, she stood on the glassy waters. She looked over her shoulder, searching for direction from her visitor, but as she glanced back, there were nothing but the rolling sands and the shadows of the setting sun. Taking another careful step on the surface of the sea, she watched as faint ripples radiated away from where her feet touched. At a loss for what else to do, Audrea continued forward, hoping the storm wouldn't sweep her away. As she marched toward the storm, the sun set completely and the sky overhead changed to a normal starry sky.

Audrea was floating through the expanse of space. She could see the familiar constellations of the Sol system in a way she'd never seen them before. The bright flare of their burn held a definition that was never present in the pictures she'd seen. She could see in the far distance, the bright yellow sun that had been a part of her everyday life until her emergence into the future, and a few planets away, she could see the blue orb of Earth. The great urges to rush toward her home overcame her, to land on the surface and revel in the feel of warmth of the sun on her face. The logical part of her brain knew that there was no way she was actually there and that this was one of her dreams but the fact that this was one of her dreams made it more difficult. Her body might not be present but this was very likely, still the real Earth.

Her sight was still locked on the oceans of her home, her feet still planted firmly on the seas of her dream. Since this was one of her dreams, there was a reason she was here. Unease settled over her as she gazed at her home and she shifted around, trying to take note of other things around her. Her dreams may sometimes show her hope but more often than not, they were a warning, and she didn't want anything to happen to Earth. She knew war was inevitably going to bear down on them, but for now it was still in the future. For now, there was still time to plan. A sensation overcame her and suddenly, she was flying through the stars. Her stomach rolled around in a feeling that was similar to the first few minutes when the Normandy jumped through the relays. Audrea couldn't tell if it was a real sensation, or just her mind trying to attach it to something familiar.

Suddenly, she stopped and she was in a different system. It was unfamiliar but a sun still shone brightly and planets still turned on their axis. She glanced down at her feet, and the inky watery substance she was now questioning if it was even an ocean. Frantic ripples trailed behind her, making her wonder if she really had been dragged here. Audrea turned as she regarded the planets, trying to pinpoint where she was. The sun held an orange tint, and she could see a relay in the distance, but other than that, and the asteroid belt that circled steadily, she couldn't tell the difference in the planets. A flicker of light caught her attention and she looked around. The stars had morphed and in their place, there were hundreds of thousands of fireflies. Rea laughed in unabashed appreciation of the phenomenon. The tiny bugs weren't native to where she had been raised, so she had only witnessed their strange lightshow a handful of times. Seeing their chaotic dance in such a strange context was bizarre and beautiful all at once. She thought she heard the faint hints of music somewhere in the distance, desperate and full of longing. It was similar to the music she had heard during some of her meditations. The whoosh of something large passed by her, was the only thing that made her fix her focus back on why she was here.

It was an asteroid, enormous, with a frozen tail that fanned out behind it like a flag. The fireflies dodged out of its way with ease as the rock circled on its lazy elliptical path. Audrea's attention was riveted on the asteroid, when Shepard unexpectedly appeared on top. She watched in horror as the Commander somehow managed to change the course of the rock as it passed by the relay and led it straight into the mass relay. The explosion made her flinch and turned away. When the overwhelming light subsided, the relay and the asteroid were both gone, and the fireflies had all disappeared. Rea shook her head, unable to fathom why this would even happen.

"It's just not possible." She whispered to herself. "There's no way she could do that."

As if on cue, the scene reset.

She watched as the asteroid pass by, this time not deviating from its set path. Shepard wasn't piloting, wasn't anywhere to be seen, and it passed by the relay, not even showing a hint of coming within a dangerous distance. The fireflies were back, flickering silently around her.

Something pulled her attention back toward the relay and she watched in horror as thousands of Reapers emerged from the technology that defined the time she was in. The machines swept over the system, consuming all before her, and the light from fireflies were fading quickly, being extinguished by the ancient force. Fire beings were starting to creep around her, and Audrea was aware of the danger she was in. Her heart started racing and the breath quickened in her lungs. It may be a dream but the feel of danger never diminished. She felt a pinch on her leg and jerked away, then one on her arm and she tried to twist the other way. Suddenly, she was being swarmed by the fire and she was a chasm had opened under her feet, threatening to suck her into the inky abyss of the starry sea. Audrea started swinging wildly at the shadows, and tried to rip the indiscernible creatures from her back. She threw elbows and knees, but all her attacks just seemed to pass through as if their very essence were made of smoke. Her flesh was seared as she fought, and she knew through her terror, she was going to be burned alive. She lost her fight and arms were pinned painfully. The fires encircled her neck, sending a searing pain over her. The fire choked her frightened cry as she fell into the abyss.

_**Break**_

She thrashed wildly and she was jerked out of sleep, confused and in intense pain. Her skin felt like it was cracking away from her body. Her elbow pulsed from where she connected with something. All she could see were the images of the Reapers swarming relentlessly, and the fireflies, as their lights were extinguished. All she understood were the fires trying to push her into the abyss. Her wrists were pinned together above her head and her knee made solid contact as she flailed, followed by an oomph. Warmth spread from her neck as she inhaled sharply.

"Audrea, you must calm yourself." A steady voice scratched at the surface of her reasoning.

Her incapacitated hands made a stronger impression then the calm words and she continued to try and escape her captor.

"Audrea please…" The voice held a hint of urgency to it as she tried to combat the force that was holding her down. Her limbs were getting steadily weaker, not responding as they should. A sense of cold crept up her extremities as her thrashing subsided. She was vaguely aware of her erratic heartbeat and a heat that spread across her neck and chest as the rest of her skin cooled.

"Re-ha, I need to get you medical attention, please stop fighting me!" It was finally the urgency in the plea that triggered her memory, the sound of her name as no one else spoke it. Her eyes had been open but her vision finally cleared the ghosts of the Reapers from her mind. She was met with the panicked eyes of Thane. There was something off about his face. It confused her. He was always so calm, with never more than a mild hint of concern. His lip was split down one side and his nose looked slightly crooked. She opened her mouth to say as much, but he immediately hushed her.

"Do not try and speak, it is not wise."

He released her wrists, which he had easily held together with one hand. His other was pressed tightly to her neck. He scooped her up, cradling her close to his chest, never releasing his hand from her neck. It felt like the choking from the shadows, and Audrea tried to bat his hand away. Her limb didn't work as she wanted and it twitched in a random direction. She didn't even realize they were moving but as soon as her jerking arm stopped, she realized his chest was incredibly warm and she just let herself sink into it. She roused herself when she felt cool air and realized they weren't in the warm, arid confines of life support. The lights above glared down and she closed her eyes tight trying to block them out.

"Oh my god." Chakwas voice cracked through the silence.

_Med bay, that can't be right._ The thought flittered across her mind.

Rea was jostled and she felt herself being lowered.

"How…" Thane's warmth disappeared from her side and she felt several hands on her neck. The throbbing pain started to subside.

"She…I…" His voice quavered as he tried to organize words that made sense. "I awoke to a crack across the face; I was being attacked."

"There's someone on the ship?" Chakwas was audibly rattled.

"Audrea was the one who attacked me."

"Wha-…." Her voice gave out in the middle of the word with a huff. "That doesn't make any sense."

"I…reacted, before I even opened my eyes. I have slept with a knife since I was a child."

"_You_ did this?" The doctor's voice pitched in disbelief.

Audrea squinted through her eyelids as she looked up at the doctor who was hovering over her with hands moving in a steady motion.

"I started to cut before I realized who was attacking and I almost slit her throat."

"Jesus, Thane, you might not have killed her outright but you did knick her carotid. If I can't get this bleeding stopped… " The doctors voice trailed off, and Thane let out a strangled noise.

The sequence made sense suddenly, and she jerked in recognition of what was happening and what she had just dreamt. Now wasn't the time to sleep.

"Shhh, you're okay. You've lost a lot of blood but you'll be okay. Just stay still, I need to repair this." Chakwas set about in a flurry of hands, her face impassive. Audrea let her eyes sink closed, her mind wandered back to the dream, organizing the meaning. She concentrated on that instead of the pain in her neck and the dizziness that threatened to sink her into unconsciousness. Within a few minutes, Chakwas had slathered on the medi-gel and wrapped her neck carefully with a bandage. Audrea opened her eyes when she felt a pinch in her arm as an IV was inserted.

"I'm glad we took an excessive amount of blood to study. I'm not sure how your system would react to blood that wasn't infused as yours is. Now please just try and rest."

"No, I need to talk to Shepard." Audrea rasped out. Chakwas tried to argue, saying she needed to just lie still until she had finished transfusing blood into her system, but Rea was insistent. The doctor caved eventually, realizing Audrea was agitated and wasn't going to calm until she had spoken to the Commander.

Minutes later, Shepard was standing in front of her, and held a look of fire on her face. Chakwas was talking low and steady to the Commander and Thane had disappeared. Audrea signed heavily; what a mess.

"What happened, Audrea?" Shepard managed to vocalize as she withheld the venom in her voice. Her face blatantly displayed, barely contained rage as she shot a look over her shoulder at the door, presumably at Thane. Audrea struggled into a sitting position, Chakwas protesting as she did so.

"They're coming Shepard, but there's a way to delay them a bit longer." Audrea struggled through what she had seen, the Reapers spilling through the relay, the fire starting to spread after. She told the Commander of the asteroid being driven headlong into the relay. Shepard wasn't exactly sure what to say as she looked down at the women in front of her. Rea was ashen and covered in blood, but she held a clear look in her eye as she spoke and a heavy certainty on her face.

"EDI, any such relays about?"

"There is one such, Commander. The Alpha relay in the Omega system fits Audrea's description of sun, planets and asteroid."

"Tell Joker to change course to it, I'm not certain about blowing up a relay but we can at least check out the system. And you still haven't told me how you ended up almost bleeding out."

Audrea sighed heavily and shook her head slightly.

"It was a terrible accident, Shepard. Don't blame Thane for it. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. The dream…" She trailed off trying to find the words to explain. "I'm already much better."

Shepard's face softened.

"I'm just glad you're okay. I have a few more questions about what you dreamt, if you're up for it."

"Commander, Admiral Hackett is on the vid-com for you." EDI chirped before Audrea was able to answer.

"We'll talk more later on, he never calls without reason."

Shepard swept from the room and Audrea was left sitting a little steadier. Dr. Chakwas finished the infusion and checked her blood pressure, shaking her head incredulously as she did so.

"You shouldn't recover as fast as you are but with your unique body chemistry, you're improving twice as fast as a normal human would with that much blood loss."

"Good, now I need to go find Thane."

"Absolutely not, you need to…"

"I need to what? Sit here for a while longer, while my body has already recovered."

"You've lost a lot of blood." Chakwas floundered in her argument, medical knowledge inhibiting her from reconciling her traditional habits with Audrea's physiology.

"Yes, I did. And now Thane is out there blaming himself for reacting with years of training, to being attacked. I'll be fine; now I need to make sure he is too."

Dr. Chakwas just shook her head as Audrea exited the room. She wasn't dizzy anymore, and she could feel her heartbeat steady in her chest, but she still felt a little unsteady on her feet. She moved slow and steady as she walked away from the med-bay. A few moments after she left, Legion appeared by her side.

"Chakwas, Doctor instructed me to assist you." He whirred at her. She laughed as she took the Geth's arm.

"Alright my motorized cane, let's go."

Legions facial flaps contracted into a puzzled look, but they moved forward. After a brief search, Audrea found Thane pacing agitated in the starboard observatory. He didn't even look up as the door hissed open.

"Shepard, I can't forgive myself for this. Deal with me how you will."

Audrea had never seen him in such a state. Even in the heat of battle he was calm and steady. The pacing was almost as bizarre as all the many outlandish things she'd encountered in this century, combined.

"Well, you're going to have to work on forgiving yourself."

"Audrea," Thane jerked around startled, "What are you doing?"

She was tired from all of it and moved to sit on the sofa, Legion obliged her wordlessly.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I broke your nose." She stated bluntly as she eyed the offending structure. "Among other things, I wanted to make sure you got it set."

Thane hovered around the edge of her reach, looking at her with a stunned expression. She gestured for him to come closer and he hesitantly knelt down in front of her, his face still awash with insecurity. With deft movements, Audrea realigned his nose with a small crack. There was only a hint of a wince on his face, as she did so. There was a flutter of a memory of her resetting another lovers nose years before. She let her hands rest lightly on his cheeks when she was done, and noticed for the first time, what a mess they both were. The fronts of them were covered with the dark crimson of her drying blood. Thane's normally fastidious appearance was in complete contradiction. His hands were still smeared from where he had held her artery closed. As she held his cheek, he ducked his head in shame.

"I almost killed you Audrea."

"Perhaps, or it was my vision that almost killed me. I was being burned alive in my dream, Thane. I'm not sure how the rules work in these and if I die in my visions, I could very well die for real." Audrea thought she could still feel the singe on her skin.

"I cut your throat without hesitation."

"Yes, but you only nicked my artery. You could have easily cut through all the rest, and then I _would _be dead. I sleep next to an assassin that's been trained for the last thirty years to not hesitate. What stopped you?"

"I…don't know. I was just suddenly aware it was you at the end of my knife, horrified that I was responsible for all the blood that was spilt. There is a reason I never participate in the rest of the crews' combat games. There has been little reason to hold back over the years."

Audrea nodded empathetically, and watched as Thane's brow furrowed and his eyes closed.

"Stop blaming yourself. You reacted as you were trained."

"I can't Audrea. I caused you grievous harm and I can't forgive myself for it."

"Well, dwell on it if you want. I'm going to choose to forgive you."

Thane looked up from his position and studied her for a minute. His hand reached up to touch the bandage that was wrapped securely around her neck. Audrea caught his hand and held it tightly as she smiled reassuringly at him.

"How about we just compromise; I'll continue to forgive you and you don't bring any more knives to bed."

Thane snorted slightly and Audrea grinned broadly at him.

"How can you forgive me for hurting you?"

"Well, as I said, I can't blame you for using your decades of training when being attacked. I also see how much you're beating yourself up over it. It's obvious it was unintentional, and that you're remorseful. I'm also serious about how I think you pulled me away from death."

"I have met few hearts as generous as yours."

Audrea just smiled in response and Thane pulled her into a careful embrace.

"I swear to you, on what is left of my life, that I'll never let any more harm come to you."

Audrea buried her face in his neck, inhaling his familiar scent, salty and dry. She was relieved he was steadier than he was when she entered the room. She had learned that she relied on his quiet strength and unassuming manner. Legion stood to the side watching silently on the exchange that seemed so alien to him.

A few hours later Audrea sat in Shepard's cabin, freshly bathed and far steadier on her feet, though exhausted. Chakwas had retested her several times over, and concluded that her blood levels were back up to normal, and scoffed that Rea could probably take a cannon shot to the chest and survive. EDI inserted tritely that Audrea had already accomplished such a feat. Shepard was staring at some data pads, looking unhappy.

"So Admiral Hackett asked me to do him a favor. He has a friend he believes was captured by batarians, in the same system as the relay you just dreamed about. She was working on some sort of archeological find on, get this, an asteroid." Shepard gave her a significant look as Audrea nodded silently, waiting for what the Commander needed to say.

"How can I do this, Rea?"

"I'm not sure on the mechanics, just the results."

"Even if we figure out the mechanics, how can I drive an asteroid into a relay and kill an entire system? EDI ran the numbers; an explosion of that size would wipe out the whole area, over 300,000 batarians. I have no problem risking my own life, the life of my crew, or anyone else on this ship. We all knew what we signed up for and are willing to pay that price. How can I kill civilians, some of them children, just to delay them for…we don't even know how long? How can I commit genocide?"

Audrea assembled her thoughts carefully, knowing in her heart it needed to be done, but just as terrified over the implications.

"Back in the war, there were times I had to make snap decisions. We'd be out in the jungle, sometimes for weeks at a time. Supplies could easily get lost; medications would go rancid in the heat. Men would sometimes get these tiny injuries that would be nothing at home. It would be nothing now with medi-gel, but out there in the jungle, those miniscule scratches could spell death. I remember this one kid; he got a little cut on his leg. He was starting to go septic, and the only way to save his life was to cut off his leg. He begged me not to take it but it had to be done. So I amputated. I'm not saying that it was the choice I wanted, or even a good choice, but it was the only choice available. Sometimes you have to hack off a limb to save the body."

Shepard sat hushed, considering this for a moment. She sighed heavily, rubbing her face with a hand.

"I get your not so subtle hint. What happened to the kid?"

"He died. I waited too long, and the antibiotics I had were ineffective."

"Thanks for the reassurance." Shepard huffed sarcastically. "You could have just lied to me and told me he lived to a ripe old age."

"I could have." Audrea confirmed, watching the Commanders face carefully.

"Point made. We should be in the system in a few hours, let me know if you remember any more details."

With that, Audrea was dismissed. She left the cabin with a glance over her shoulder. Shepard sat with the visible weight of a decision on her shoulders. Rea felt empathy for her, and sick that she had to be the one to direct her to that decision.

**_A/N Huge thanks to my new beta Liso66, for helping me add a little polish and pointing out my grammatical mistakes! I hope you all enjoy, and as always read and review! It's serious crack, I check a million times for the comments=)_**


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